A coyote spotted in Arlington’s Parkway Central Park was captured Thursday morning after three children had reportedly been bitten.
Video footage from KDFW-TV (Channel 4) showed police and animal service officers putting a lassoed coyote into a city van. An officer at the scene told the TV station the coyote charged them at one point.
It was not clear whether the captured coyote had bitten any children or if the kids had all three been attacked by the same animal.
The coyote will be euthanized and taken to the Texas Health and Human Services in Austin for rabies testing, a city news release said.
The park remains closed to the public and officials are continuing to patrol the area for additional coyotes.
The city initially closed the park, located at 600 Van Buren Drive, on Tuesday after officials learned of the attacks between Saturday and Tuesday. The kids were playing on the playground or in the parking lot when the biting incidents occurred.
Each child was treated for their injuries and released from the hospital. They will all receive post-exposure rabies treatment, officials said.
After the attacks, police and animal services began patrolling the area and setting out traps.
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Surrounding properties and Arlington ISD were also notified about coyotes in the area after someone called 911 reporting one was following pedestrians near the park on Wednesday afternoon.
Code Compliance Director Brian Daugherty said in a news release that coyotes can be found throughout Arlington, but are typically afraid of people, adding that aggressive encounters in the city have been rare.
“Public Safety is our priority and the City of Arlington had not previously experienced any coyote attacks,” he said. “Coyotes and other wildlife are now part of our urban environment, and we need to find the best way to coexist,”
He also recommended taking precautions when outdoors, such as not trying to engage with wildlife, and encourages reporting sightings on the city website so it can be tracked and addressed by animal services.
The city is partnering with the United States Department of Agriculture wildlife staff to reduce the number of coyotes in the area of the park in an effort to change the pack’s behavior.
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