Colorado Parks and Wildlife officers killed seven coyotes in Broomfield’s Anthem neighborhood in the past two weeks in response to a string of attacks on children in the area.
In all, wildlife officials have killed nine coyotes in the Anthem area since July, Parks and Wildlife spokeswoman Jennifer Churchill said.
Wednesday, Churchill said that after several weeks of trapping and shooting coyotes, Parks and Wildlife will stop patrolling the area unless run-ins between area residents and aggressive coyotes persist.
The recent efforts to thin the coyote population in Anthem began after a a 6-year-old boy was bitten Aug. 16 while he was walking with his father and younger sister on a trail near Colorado 7 between Lowell Boulevard and Sheridan Parkway. The boy suffered minor scrapes and a pair of puncture wounds on his buttocks, according to police. The attack was the third reported instance of coyote aggression toward a child in Anthem since mid-July.
“Considering that we’ve had three aggressive incidents in this neighborhood, we were seeing a pattern of behavior that really concerned us,” Churchill said.
Anthem residents this week expressed varied opinions about the coyote attacks in their neighborhood and the response by wildlife officials.
Kevin Mihalik said he walks the trails in the Anthem Highlands neighborhood with his wire-haired terrier, Lily, every day and, despite several encounters, has never had an issue with an aggressive coyote.
“I think it’s all fear based,” Mihalik said of killing coyotes in light of the recent attacks. “It’s that time of year that they’re trying to get their pups out, and I feel we’re encroaching on them, they’re not encroaching on us.”
Lisa Hrivnak has lived in Anthem for five years and has never encountered a coyote.
The mother of two said she has instructed her children on the proper ways to scare off a coyote should they come across one, but she said she is OK with wildlife officials killing aggressive coyotes.
“We teach our kids the things to do (if they see a coyote), but . . . when they’re 6 and 7, they’re not going to remember that in the moment,” Hrivnak said. “So maybe it does make it safer if there are fewer (coyotes) out there.”
The Public Works Department is trimming back some of the wild grasses that grow next to trails to deprive coyotes of places to hide, said Kristan Pritz, Broomfield open space and trails director. In both instances in which a child was bitten by this year, the offending animal sprung out from tall grasses alongside trails.
Additionally, Pritz said, several city staff members will periodically patrol Anthem and use paintball guns to shoot coyotes, hazing them in hopes it will make them more wary of human contact.
