Coyote Drags Toddler From Front Yard

[MrPsychic 1]

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 toward a street. She ran toward 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. Her injuries were not life-threatening. She was released from the hospital Wednesday afternoon and was expected to fully recover.

 

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.

 

That incident prompted Fish and Game officials to temporarily close the park, which is near Chino Hills State Park, a natural open space of thousands of acres spanning nearly 31 miles.

 

To me, it sounds like there's a massive food shortage for the coyotes, that's why they're getting bolder.

[Kor37 9]

When does Coyote season start?...........

Edited May 8, 2008 by Kor37

[Warrior_Princess 0]

How sad for these little girls, it's a good thing that someone was there to scare the coyote off.

[Theunicornhunter 2]

Well Cornell is launching a five year study to find answers (actually we're in to year three)

 

cornell

 

They're obviously getting more used to people and associating food with human habitation. Is there a drought or something that is reducing their natural food supply or is it just dwindling habitat?

 

Maybe people will have to decide if maybe we shouldn't be living in wildlifes' backyard.