Cape Cod National Seashore has worked to educate visitors about coyotes/NPS

A child was bitten around the face by a coyote at Cape Cod National Seashore, and while the injuries were non-threatening the animal still needed to be tested for rabies.

Park officials said the incident happened Wednesday night about 8:30 p.m. at North Herring Cove Beach. The child was taken to Cape Cod Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. Park rangers destroyed the coyote and recovered its carcass Thursday around noon local time so it could be tested for rabies.

"There were a lot of people on the beach having campfires. It was dark. The ranger found the coyote along the dune line and chased it back into the dune," said Deputy Superintendent Leslie Reynolds during a phone call. "She shot it, and like any animal that's shot, when you want to check it for rabies you don't shoot it in the head. So, she shot it and it took off. They tracked the blood. We did locate it today around noon. It was located about 50 yards from where the ranger shot it in really thick brush.

"So we are removing the coyote, and then we'll get it processed to see if it had rabies," Reynolds continued. "Certainly, the family will need to know so (if the animal was rabid). The decision I'm sure will be made with a doctor on what treatment the child gets."

Reynolds said her staff hadn't yet interviewed the family to get details of the attack. However, national seashore rangers this summer have been responding to incidents of coyotes acting aggressively toward people in attempts to obtain food. 

This behavior starts with people feeding the coyotes intentionally by leaving food out, or inadvertently by not removing food scraps and packaging from the beach, a park release said. This leads to the animals becoming habituated and bold in attempts to obtain food. When wild animals lose their fear of people, they behave unpredictably and aggressively, resulting in injuries to people and an end for the habituated animal.

A year ago a coyote attacked and killed a puppy that was off leash at the seashore. Rangers later killed the animal. Earlier this summer a woman used a stick to fend off a coyote that was circling her at one of the seashore's beaches. 

"The rangers here, proactively, educate our visitors on not to feed wildlife. It certainly changes behaviors and they become really unpredictable and aggressive," the deputy superintendent said. "And so we've been chasing and hazing coyotes. We do so every year and try to educate the public as often as we can. Unfortunately, this one clearly got habituated to human food and became really, really aggressive." 

Visitors should report assertive coyote sightings to rangers or the seashore's dispatch center at 617-242-5659.