LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) – A couple of women may not have seen them coming. Nevada Department of Wildlife officials say in two different attacks in the Pittman wash area of Henderson, coyotes hid in bushes and then attacked women and injured their legs.
Right now, there is no clear explanation of why the two attacks happened.
“Who knows. You’re trying to second guess an animal; why an animal might bite. It could be in a mode of protecting a territory. It could be surprised. It could be feeling that it’s being crowded out a little bit and that might make it feel uncomfortable,” said Doug Nielsen with the Nevada Department of Wildlife.
While the feeding of coyotes was cited as a possible reason for some coyotes biting people in the Lake Las Vegas area this year, Nielson says he hasn’t heard of any specific reports of feeding going on in the Pittman Wash area.
FOX5 also asked Nielsen about people using bear spray on coyotes. While he says he has no information on the effectiveness of it on coyotes, he says it wouldn’t be a bad thing for people to try and use it on a coyote.
“Those type of sprays, of course they’re designed to irritate the eyes and the respiratory tract. Anything that might make a bear uncomfortable, my guess is, it would probably make a coyote uncomfortable,” said Nielsen.
Nielson also told FOX5 a coyote was euthanized. However, it’s unknown if it attacked the women in the Pittman Wash area.
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