Two toddlers were injured in separate coyote attacks in Arizona last week.
Video from a surveillance camera caught the moment that the large coyote attacked a 21-month-old boy in Scottsdale, Arizona. The coyote is seen in the video stalking the toddler near his home before knocking him down and biting him on Wednesday. The toddler screamed and the animal released him from his jaw.
The boy’s mother, Kelly Pirozzi, ran to protect her son from the coyote. The animal scampered away. She then rushed the boy into their home.
“It happened so quickly,” Pirozzi told ABC News.
The boy suffered minor bite marks.
There was another coyote attack only four days earlier, just half a mile away from Pirozzi’s home.
A toddler was at a playground near an elementary school when the child was attacked by a coyote, according to Darren Julian, an urban wildlife specialist with the Arizona Game and Fish Department.
Thankfully that toddler’s injuries were also minor, with some “scrape marks on his stomach.”
Officials suspect the same coyote committed both attacks.
Julian said coyote attacks are rare, and these are the first in the Phoenix area since 2017.
However, Julian warned residents to be “extra vigilant,” even in their own backyards.
The Arizona Game and Fish Department said it is “looking for a large, healthy coyote that has injured two toddlers in Scottsdale.”
“The coyote shows little fear of people and may have been illegally fed in the past,” the statement read. “Parents of toddlers in the area should keep their children close when outdoors and be vigilant until the Arizona Game and Fish Department is able to locate and remove the offending coyote.”
Members of the Arizona Game and Fish Department and officers with the Scottsdale Police Department are patrolling the area to locate the coyote.
The Arizona Game and Fish Department is asking anyone who spots a coyote in the Scottsdale area to immediately call 623-236-7201.
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Coyote’s attack on toddler caught on camera | GMAwww.youtube.com