Coyote shot by police in Winnipeg's North End

Winnipeg police have killed a coyote that was running around in the city's North End on Tuesdayafternoon.

Police shot the coyote as it was running down Boyd Avenue at around 3:30 p.m.

Area residents reported seeing the animal running into a backyard, and officers cornered it there and fired four shots.

Wayne Matthews said he was watching television at home when he noticed something going on outside.

"I heard a bunch of 'Bang bang bang bang,' and all of a sudden somebody's going tothe side," he told CBC News.

Matthews said he initiallythought someone was throwing icicles at his house, but he phoned police and learned the banging noise was actually gunfire.

Hesaid police told him a coyote had been running in the neighbourhood for the past few days, so officers were called in to kill it.

Zeeshan Waheed said he was cutting down trees nearby when he saw two police cruisers fly by. Minutes later, he heard four gunshots, he said.

While Matthews did not seethe coyote, hesaid he's glad the animal has been taken out of theneighbourhood before it can attack a child.

Matthewssaid police told him the coyote carcass wouldbe tested for rabies before being disposed of.

People living in Winnipeg's Point Douglas neighbourhood have been raising concerns this week about coyote sightings there and in nearby areas.

Elsewhere in the city, resident Earl Palansky said he was walking south on the west side of the Red River, near the Chief Peguis Bridge, when he spotted a coyote on the river's east bank about two weeks ago.