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Scientists Looking Into Recent Coyote Attacks

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May 11, 2008 2:15 pm US/Pacific

Scientists Looking Into Recent Coyote Attacks

LOS ANGELES (AP) ― A spate of coyote attacks in the fast-growing suburbs east of Los Angeles have left parents on edge and puzzled wildlife officials.

State Department of Fish and Game spokesman Steve Martarano says the animals appear to be losing their fear of humans, and are behaving more aggressively.

Coyotes normally avoid contact with humans and hunt rabbits and rodents.

But scientists say some that live near suburban developments are becoming bolder, raiding garbage or even attacking pets and humans.

Since the 1970s, more than 100 coyote attacks on humans in Southern California have been recorded, with half the incidents involving children age 10 and younger.

The only known fatality involved a 3-year-old girl in the foothill city of Glendale. She was fatally mauled in 1981.

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