Coyote that attacked girl at San Francisco Botanical Garden is killed

The hunt for an adult coyote that attacked a 5-year-old girl in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park is over after DNA tests confirmed it was among three animals killed by state wildlife trappers over the weekend, officials said.

The girl was attending a day camp at the Botanical Garden on Friday when she was bitten, suffering a “significant but not serious” injury, according to Patrick Foy, spokesman for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.

She was treated at the scene by paramedics, according to the Gardens of Golden Gate. The botanical garden is part of Golden Gate Park and has a known coyote population that has coexisted with park visitors for years, Foy said.

A person enters the Botanical Garden in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco in April 2023. Wildlife officials say a coyote that attacked a 5-year-old girl on Friday while she played in the garden while attending a supervised summer camp was among three animals shot and killed over the weekend.

(Jeff Chiu / Associated Press)

“We are happy to report that everyone is OK,” Brendan Lange, spokesman for the Gardens of Golden Gate Park, said in an email Tuesday. The botanical garden was closed out of an abundance of caution after the incident on Friday and did not reopen until Monday morning.

It’s not unusual to see a coyote in Golden Gate Park, even though the area is considered an urban setting, said Tamara Aparton, spokeswoman for the San Francisco Recreation and Park Department. In almost all cases where a coyote interacted with a human, an unleashed dog was involved, Aparton said.

“It is extremely rare for a coyote to bite a human,” Aparton added.

To find the animal responsible for attacking the girl Friday, trappers killed two coyotes on Saturday and another on Sunday. Forensic scientists with the California Dept. of Fish and Wildlife confirmed that one of the two matched DNA taken from the girl’s bite wounds, Foy said. The results of a rabies test will take several days and were not available Tuesday, Foy said. It is unclear what led to the attack or whether dogs were involved in the situation.

The situation in San Francisco is not an isolated case, especially at this time of year.

Coyotes are particularly active during mating and breeding season and have claimed the backyards and surrounding hills around the Mar Vista neighborhood in Southern California as part of their territory.

Coyote mothers tend to become territorial after giving birth to their young, and their behavior can seem aggressive or abnormal, according to wildlife officials. At this time of year, some hiking trails in San Francisco are closed for safety reasons as coyote sightings increase.

In 2021, federal trappers killed a male coyote named Carl after the animal attacked picnickers in Golden Gate Park, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

Wildlife experts say coyotes and other animals can become habituated to humans if they find a beneficial relationship with them, such as food, which is why they advise people not to feed local wildlife.