California 2-Year-Old Dragged From Yard by Coyote in Third Such Attack in Five Days
LAKE ARROWHEAD, Calif. —
A coyote grabbed a 2-year-old girl by
the head and tried to drag her from the front yard of her mountain home
in the third incident of a coyote threatening a small child in Southern
California in five days, authorities said.
The coyote attacked the girl around noon Tuesday when her mother,
Melissa Rowley, went inside the home for a moment to put away a camera,
the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department said in an incident
report.
Rowley came out of the house and saw the coyote dragging her
daughter towards a street. She ran towards her daughter, and the animal
released the girl and ran away, said sheriff’s spokeswoman Arden
Wiltshire.
Rowley took her daughter to a hospital where the toddler was treated
for several punctures to the head and neck area, and a laceration on
her mouth. She was then flown to Loma Linda University Hospital for
further treatment, although her injuries were not life-threatening.
State Fish and Game wardens and county animal control authorities
set traps for the coyote and were monitoring the neighborhood high in
the San Bernardino Mountains about 65 miles miles northeast of Los
Angeles.
On Friday, a nanny pulled a 2-year-old girl from the jaws of a
coyote at Alterra Park in Chino Hills, a San Bernardino County
community about 30 miles east of Los Angeles. The girl suffered
puncture wounds to her buttocks and was treated at a hospital.
A coyote came after another toddler in the same park Sunday. The child’s father kicked and chased the coyote away.
Alterra Park is near Chino Hills State Park, a natural open space of thousands of acres spanning nearly 31 miles.
