Burlington enables crisis team after coyote attacks elderly woman at retirement home

The City of Burlington has activated its crisis management team as random coyote attacks become increasingly frequent.

City officials confirmed six recent attacks, including the latest from a retirement home employee concerning one of their residents.

A city spokesperson says the alleged attack happened around 8:30 a.m. on Saturday at a retirement home in the Roseland area.

The victim was sitting out on their front patio in a chair and awoke to the pain of the coyote biting her in the hip.

She managed to scare the animal away, and a retirement home employee quickly assessed the resident, who was taken to a local hospital.

RELATED: Burlington distributes whistles amid rash of unprovoked coyote attacks

The coyote believed to be behind the latest incident has not been caught. City officials say the reported attacks are uncharacteristic of coyotes, and this cluster of recent aggression on humans is the first reported in Burlington.

Burlington mayor Marianne Meed Ward said she’s concerned about the safety of residents, noting one of the attacks involved a two-year-old boy being bitten on his backyard deck.

“I join all of my colleagues on the council in expressing our heartfelt distress to the resident attacked [Saturday] morning. We want to assure residents we’re taking immediate actions to protect our community, including convening a crisis team and a special council meeting this week to implement our action plan,” Ward said.

“I want to thank Minister Graydon Smith and his team for stepping as soon as I reached out to him, connecting our staff to their wildlife and coyote expertise so that we can protect our residents.”

In late August, city officials confirmed a different coyote behind a string of unprovoked attacks was tracked down and killed.

The decision to kill the animal was made after the third attack on a human was reported.

Food donations box left outside Burlington retirement home

Residents are reminded never to leave food for coyotes as the animal will continue to rely on humans as a food source. In this case, a box of food was discovered near the Burlington retirement home where the woman was bitten.

Photos sent to CityNews show a food donations box near a trash can. Inside is corn and what appear to be other types of snacks, including empty plastic containers.

A food donations box left near a retirement home in Burlington, where a woman was bitten by a coyote. Photo: CityNews submission.

Mayor Ward tells CityNews the box of food was placed on the sidewalk near the retirement home where the senior was bitten by the coyote on Saturday. Ward says the woman that was bit and taken to hospital is back at the retirement home.

The Burlington mayor mentions that residents can all go outside, but they’ve been encouraged to go out in pairs, and they’ve all been given whistles in case of a coyote sighting.

To report coyote sightings, use the form at burlington.ca/coyotes.