Child injured in coyote attack

An Edmonton boy is nursing a bandaged knee after a coyote attack, while his best friend is being hailed as a hero.

The 10-year-old boys were having a backyard snowball fight Saturday in the north end of the citywhen a coyote appeared and attacked one of them.

Marshall Davis told the Edmonton Sun he punched and kicked the coyote in the face until his friend David Burnett was free. Davis's parents rescued both boys and called police.

"I was amazed and was grateful he saved me," Burnett told the Sun.

Later that day, police cornered a coyote in the area and Alberta Fish and Wildlife officials shot and killed it.

Burnett suffered puncture wounds to his leg.

"The injury on the child is minimal, but it's very scary, for them," police Insp. Darren Eastcott told CBC News.

Neighbours said a coyote had been in the area for about two weeks.

Children should act big, advises expert

Wildlife experts say coyotes are not uncommon in Calgary or Edmonton. In April of 2005, two Calgary toddlers were attacked in separate incidents by coyotes.

"I drive around in the middle of the night and we see wild animals all the time," Eastcott said. "Not far outside the city core, I've seen a half a dozen coyotes together."

Screaming and banging pots should help keep coyotes out of backyards, advises anexpert from Vancouver.

Robert Bowlins, an urban wildlife specialist with the Stanley Park Ecology Society, said earlier this year that children who encounter a coyote should try to appear as big, mean and loud as possible, rather than run away.

Adults should discourage coyotes from hanging around backyards.

"The key when there is a coyote in your backyard is to respond to it, to be as aggressive as possible," Bowlins said.

"By throwing things at it, by shouting at it, you are basically teaching them to get out."