Rash of Coyote Attacks on Southern California Toddlers

By Anastacia Mott Austin

Melissa Rowley was taking pictures of her two-year-old daughter and friends in the front yard of their Lake Arrowhead, California home, and stepped inside the house to put the camera away. When she returned, a coyote was dragging her daughter by the head across the street.

Horrified, the mother ran after the coyote, who dropped her toddler and ran off.

The child was treated for serious puncture wounds to the head and face, but is expected to recover. She will, however, have to face the painful series of shots for the rabies vaccination.

This attack was the third in a week of shockingly aggressive attacks by coyotes on very young children, all in the small Lake Arrowhead community.

A local area park was the site of two separate coyote attacks this week on toddlers. A nanny rescued a two-year-old girl from the jaws of a coyote at Alterra Park in Chino Hills, only days after a father kicked and chased a coyote away from his own young child at the same park.

Sheriff’s deputies canvassed the local neighborhoods door to door, warning of the recent attacks and telling parents to be extra vigilant. While interviewing residents, the officers say they heard of several incidents of coyotes being aggressive with humans.

Sergeant Mike O’Brien spoke to reporters at a press briefing on Wednesday, saying "What this attack tells us is that it is possible and it can happen that fast. Parents must use diligence in watching their children and their pets."

Officers were told during their neighborhood visit that some residents had been feeding the coyotes, which is against the law, and could have contributed to the animals’ lowered fear of humans. "While we were out in the neighborhood yesterday, we had people tell us some residents have been feeding the animals," said O’Brien. "That creates problems. Do not make food available to wild animals. It’s against the law and creates a risk of attack and a health risk."

Traps have been set in hopes of capturing the coyote involved in the most recent attack. If nothing else, locating and testing the animal could spare Melissa Rowley’s daughter the painful rabies shots.

Fish and Game officials wanted to emphasize that anxious residents should not take it upon themselves to shoot coyotes they see, but rather call the sheriff’s department or the local animal control office. "There has been no permission, written or unwritten, issued to hunt or destroy coyotes," said Sergeant O’Brien. "We don’t want the general public randomly trying to dispatch animals. The discharge of a firearm could cause more danger than the animal."

The recent attacks have unnerved residents, especially parents of small children. One theory of why attacks have been increasing, other than the deliberate feeding of the coyotes, is that with expanding home developments into formerly wild areas, coyotes and other wild animals find their territory shrinking and their food supplies dwindling.