A coyote that’s believed to have attacked and bitten a 5-year-old girl in Dublin Hills Regional Park on Wednesday afternoon was located and fatally shot with a rifle early Thursday morning, a spokesman for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife said.
Capt. Patrick Foy of the Department of Fish and Wildlife said the coyote was located after a joint investigation involving his agency, the East Bay Regional Park District, Dublin police and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal, Plant and Health Inspection Service.
The coyote was spotted in the vicinity of where a coyote attacked the girl at about 2:20 p.m. Wednesday at the 654-acre park, which is located north of Interstate Highway 580 and northeast of Schaefer Ranch, Foy said.
The injuries the girl suffered weren’t life-threatening, according to Foy.
East Bay Regional Park District police said on Wednesday that the girl was taken to UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital after the attack and was in stable condition. Foy said he doesn’t know if the girl has been released yet.
Foy said the coyote that was killed early Thursday has been taken to a Fish and Wildlife lab in Sacramento to see if there’s DNA that can be linked to DNA that was taken from the girl’s clothing.
Foy said the tests also are aimed at finding out if the coyote had rabies or another disease that could have infected the girl.
Bay City News is a 24/7 news service covering the greater Bay Area. © 2022 Bay City News, Inc. All rights reserved. Republication, rebroadcast or redistribution without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited.