A 21-month-old boy was injured after being attacked by a coyote at the entrance of his house in Arizona (United States), an event that was recorded by the home’s security cameras.
In the images you can see how the mother, Kelly Pirozzi, arrives at the house, followed by her son. The mother is confused for a few moments and suddenly, quickly, but stealthily, the coyote appears to attack the little one.
The attack looks just out of shot, but the screams and the shadows warn of what is happening. The mother was able to react quickly and scare the animal away when it grabbed her son’s arm.
The attack comes just three days after a coyote attacked a boy near a schoolyard just half a mile from the house. the child had “scratch marks on stomach”, according to Darren Julian, an urban wildlife specialist for the state of Arizona, who believes the attacks are related to the same coyote.
Julian said the recent attacks are unusual as there haven’t been any in the Phoenix area since 2017. However, he warned parents to stay “very attentive”, even in their own gardens.
The Arizona Department of Game and Fish said in a statement that this “coyote shows little fear of people and may have been fed illegally in the past.”
Police have told people who live in the areas to keep their pets indoors with coyotes that they have been known to feed on cats, dogs, or other smaller animals.