Montebello Grant Rea Park closed due to coyote attacks

Lieutenant Ron Hoffman with the California Dept. of Fish and Wildlife confirmed that Grant Rea park in Montebello will be closed for two or three days while authorities search for a coyote who attacked a homeless man. Other people have also reportedly been attacked in the same park, which includes a large children's play area

Hoffman says there is an overpopulation of coyotes and it is unusual but not unheard of for them to attack larger animals such as deer and humans. The animal will be euthanized, and then tested for rabies since he attacked a human.

The coyote is a canid native to North America and Central America. It is smaller than its close relative, the gray wolf, being roughly the North American equivalent to the Old World golden jackal, though it is larger and more predatory. It is listed as "least concern" by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), on account of its wide distribution and abundance throughout North America, southwards through Mexico and into Central America.

The species is versatile and able to adapt to environments modified by humans--i.e., cities. As human activity has altered the landscape, the coyote's range has expanded. In 2013, coyotes were sighted in eastern Panama (across the Panama Canal from their home range) for the first time. The coyote is more closely related to the common ancestor of wolves and other canids (more "basal") than its relative the gray wolf.