Police shoot and kill suspected aggressive coyote on grounds of North York school

TORONTO -

Police have shot and killed a coyote on the grounds of a North York school after it reportedly bit two people at a nearby park over the weekend.

The coyote was cornered along a fence at Hollywood Public School near Bayview Avenue and Sheppard Avenue sometime on Monday morning by members of the Emergency Task Force and Toronto Animal Services.

It remained there for more than an hour while police cleared out several portable classrooms and had students and staff shelter-in place inside the school.

Then just before 11 a.m. the animal was shot and killed by a member of the Emergency Task Force.

Video footage from the scene showed the coyote lying on the ground when it was struck by a single round in the shoulder area.

The force of the gunshot initially flipped the coyote onto its back but it eventually got up and ran through the school yard before eventually collapsing on a baseball diamond nearby.

Police had previously told CP24 that they were holding the scene until Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) staff showed up to deal with the wild animal.

However, the animal was ultimately killed before the arrival of MNR staff.

The location where it was trapped was about 500 metres east of Bayview Village Park, where a coyote reportedly bit two people over the weekend.

In the wake of that incident, the city had been warning people to stay away from the North York Park and “use caution in the neighbouring areas” as members of Toronto Animal Services and the Emergency Task Forced worked “diligently” to track down the “at-large” animal.

“Coyotes generally do not pose a danger to people and a bite to a human is abnormal behaviour,” the city said in a news release issued on Sunday.