DNA testing has found one coyote is behind a spate of bites in the Bay Area, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
Earlier this week, a coyote bit a three-year-old girl as she was walking with a parent in a town east of Oakland, it says. According to CBS San Francisco, DNA samples were taken from the girl's bites for analysis. It adds that the girl's mother scared the coyote off.
This is the fourth coyote bite incident in the Bay Area in the past few months. One attack was reported in July and two in December, and DNA testing linked those three bites to one coyote. According to the Chronicle, the same coyote is responsible for the new attack. "The coyote's DNA profile is a match to the coyote responsible for the three other attacks that occurred all in the same vicinity between July and December 2020," Patrick Foy from the fish and wildlife department tells it.
The Chronicle adds that officials are searching for the coyote to euthanize it and test it for rabies.