Professional trappers will be brought in to try to find a coyote that remains at large after biting a 5-year-old boy and aggressively approaching a female student at Cal State Los Angeles, authorities said Thursday.
After both incidents, police shot the coyote, which was injured and wandered into nearby hills.
The first incident occurred at the El Sereno campus about 6:30 p.m. Wednesday while the child was walking on campus with his father, California Department of Fish and Wildlife Lt. J.C. Healy said.
Cellphone video recorded nearby showed a coyote following the boy along a sidewalk and running up to him. Healy confirmed the video showed the boy who was attacked.
The father then heard his son say, “It just bit me,” Healy said.
The boy was indeed bitten and suffered a single puncture wound in the incident, Healy said. The child was taken to a health facility for treatment, authorities said Wednesday night. The attack took place near Parking Lot 3 close to the stadium, the university said in a Facebook post Thursday.
The dad chased off the coyote, but about an hour later a woman yelled for help.
Officers investigating the coyote bite incident “heard a female student scream and observed a coyote approaching the student in an aggressive manner,” the university stated.
A short time later, at least one officer with the Cal State L.A. Police Department shot his or her firearm at the coyote, injuring it, according to the university and Healy. The animal ran off, and campus police officers and Los Angeles Animal Services officers were continuing to look for it Thursday.
Meanwhile, students on campus told KTLA they had heard the gunfire ring out Wednesday night and some thought there was a shooting on campus. Some heard howling after the shots, according to the university newspaper’s Twitter account.
Fish and Wildlife officials, who responded after seeing the story on the evening news, have interviewed the boy and are hoping to get DNA of the animal from his pants, Healy said.
A Fish and Wildlife unit is at the scene Thursday, and Healy says professional trappers will eventually be called in to help search for the coyote.
Anyone who sees an injured coyote on or near the campus should avoid the animal and immediately call the campus Department of Public Safety at 323-343-3700.
The university noted that coyote sightings are common in California and signs warning about the animals are posted around campus. Coyotes are more active in spring when they care for their babies. Students said they can regularly be heard calling from surrounding hills at night, especially if a siren goes by.
Coyotes are naturally fearful of humans and it’s unusual for them to attack people. More information on living safely near coyotes is on the state wildlife department’s Keep Me Wild page.
Correction: An earlier version of this article incorrectly described a tweet from the school newspaper as being from the university. The post has been updated.