Wildlife officials said animal attacks have become more common in California.
There isn’t a direct study on whether more people hiking during the COVID-19 pandemic has meant more animal attacks, said Patrick Foy, Captain with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Law Enforcement Division.
“I can tell you pretty conclusively that there are more people enjoying the outdoors,” Foy said. “They are going places where they can socially distance and let their kids stretch their legs.”
He told KCBS Radio that is a good thing, but it may explain the odd year California has had when it comes to animal attacks.
There have been more than a dozen coyote attacks within the past year, three confirmed mountain lion attacks and at least six bear attacks, Foy said.
“A single attack is rare in any given year, let alone all those compiled on top of each other,” the captain added. “So, we’ve been really struggling to keep up with all the DNA work. It’s an enormous amount of effort to launch these investigations, to launch these removal efforts or trapping efforts and to do all the DNA work necessary to conduct these investigations appropriately.”
Wildlife officials determined Wednesday that the animal that attacked a young girl in Moraga Tuesday was a coyote that bit several people last year.
