Coyote that attacked Irvine boy and his dad is captured and killed

The coyote that bit a 3-year-old boy and his father outside their Irvine home last month has been trapped and killed, police said Wednesday.

Professional trappers working with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife began looking for the coyote after the Oct. 14 attack in the Portola Springs neighborhood.

The father was in the front yard of his home in the 70 block of Forbes when his son jumped on his back, authorities said at the time.

The father thought the boy was playing until he felt a bite near his right buttocks. He then saw the coyote and realized it had attacked both him and his son.

The coyote ran off before authorities arrived, but officials swabbed the bites so they could use DNA to identify the animal once it was caught.

Irvine, and the Portola Springs neighborhood in particular, have endured a spate of coyote attacks recently. Humans were bitten five times from May to October, police said, and another person was scratched.

Fish and Wildlife officials definitively connected the euthanized coyote to three of those bites, according to police, who said the animal likely was responsible for the other attacks as well.

Fish and Wildlife officials who coordinated the trapping effort couldn’t immediately be reached for comment Wednesday.

Police said they will keep coordinating with the state agency on tactics to drive coyotes out of residential areas. Those methods have included shooting them with paintball guns.