By Shawn Cohen • spcohen@lohud.com • September 6, 2010
RYE BROOK — A trapper spotted a coyote alongside Acker Drive at 8:20 this morning, but have been unable to capture it or confirm it was the same one that attacked two youngsters last night — biting a father who was protecting his 2-year-old daughter.
"We're onto some coyote," said Rye Brook police Sgt. Rich Carroll. "We have troopers out looking at him. It could be the one, but we don't have names on their collars."
The first confrontation happened at 6:50 p.m. on Eagles Bluff, where a coyote lunged toward a 14-year-old boy who was playing with other children. The teen struck it in the face and the coyote ran off into the woods, police said. That boy was not injured but did have marks where the coyote made contact with him, police said.
About an hour later on Hillandale Road, a coyote lunged at the 2-year-old who was playing with her 28-year-old father in the driveway.
"The father was able to scare off the coyote but not before the coyote bit him on the back of the leg," police said in a news release.
Father and daughter sought treatment at Greenwich Hospital; the father's injury was superficial and the girl was not injured, though she too had a mark on her skin, police said.
Rye Brook police and trappers responded last night to both areas. Two trappers were out this morning when one of them discovered a coyote in the woods off Acker Drive.
The village developed what it called a "comprehensive tracking program" early last month in response to two attacks. A 6-year-old girl, Emily Hodulik, was attacked June 26 by two of the animals as she played outside her home on LaSalle Avenue in Rye. She was bitten on her shoulder and scratched on her back.
On June 30, a coyote bit 3-year-old Erika Attar on her neck and torso as she played in a backyard on North Street in Rye.
In light of last night's confrontations, the village reminded people not to leave pet food or trash outside and said small children and pets should not be outside unattended.
Feinstein said the village's latest three-week trapping program was to expire this week. "Given the incidents, we'll re-examine that," she said.
She said a hazing program, using lights and noise, had been used to make the animals fearful of humans once again.
"So far their behavior had been nonaggressive. Tonight is obviously a different situation, and a very serious situation," she said Sunday
Any coyote sightings in Rye Brook should be reported to local police at 914-937-1020.
http://www.lohud.com/article/20100906/NEWS02/9060329/1018
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