Coyote attacks toddler in Woodland Hills (video)
A Woodland Hills family is speaking out about the terrifying moment a coyote attacked their 2-year-old daughter in broad daylight.
Security video shows the toddler being attacked and dragged by a coyote, all in a matter of seconds.
The girl’s parents, Shira and Ariel Eliyahuo, tell KTLA’s John Fenoglio they had just arrived home from preschool and taken their daughter out of her car seat while parked in front of their home.
As they collected her toys inside the car, a coyote is seen quickly running towards the toddler and biting down on her legs, dragging her facedown onto the sidewalk. While the girl screams for help, her dad, Ariel, runs over to rescue her while yelling loudly to scare off the coyote.
“For a second, he [Ariel] just turned inside the car and he just heard her screaming and he didn’t see the coyote, he thought she fell,” explains the girl’s mother, Shira. “So he ran over and he saw the coyote.”
The coyote appeared a bit unfazed as it lingered for a few moments before Ariel is seen throwing a rock at the animal.
“She has a lot of scratches on her left leg and one of them is really deep,” Shira said of her daughter’s injuries. “We had to go to the ER. We had to get her rabies shots. The coyote just kind of dragged her so her face is also a little bit bruised.”
As KTLA5 was reporting from the scene, a coyote suddenly appeared in front of the family’s home on Friday night. Ariel chased the coyote back into the bushes. The family says they’re sick and tired of the numerous coyotes constantly lurking in their neighborhood.
They want to prevent an attack like this from happening to another child and are hoping the city will get involved by trapping and removing the coyotes from their community.