A two-year-old boy was seriously hurt when a coyote attacked him at a park in Whitby, Ontario, an unsettling encounter that police say was unprovoked and that has renewed concerns about wildlife venturing into the community.
The attack happened around 8:30 p.m. on Sunday at Vanier Park, a green space tucked inside a large subdivision in central Whitby, in the Durham region east of Toronto. What had been a typical Sunday evening at the park quickly turned into a nightmare.
According to Durham Regional Police, the young boy was attacked by the coyote as he was in the park, and he suffered serious but not life-threatening injuries. Officers noted that such attacks on people are rare.
A group of older children who were playing in the park described the frightening scene. They said the coyote ran out from a ditch at the back of the park, near a zip line, as a family scrambled to get away from the animal.
The children recounted how the coyote later came toward where they were playing, prompting them to back away. They said the animal then turned its attention to a dog, was scared off, and ran up the street.
Police said the attack was the latest in a series of coyote encounters in the region, and the second such attack in as many weeks. The pattern has left residents uneasy about the animals appearing in residential areas and local parks.