Bold coyote grabs toddler outside California home — then dad steps in, video shows

A California father’s quick reaction saved his young daughter from being dragged away by a coyote on the sidewalk outside their home, security video shows.

Ariel Eliyahuo was collecting his daughter’s toys from his SUV while she played on the sidewalk after arriving home from her preschool on Friday, Dec. 2, in Woodland Hills he told KTLA.

“I heard her screaming and crying and I thought she fell down and I saw the coyote was there,” Eliyahuo told KNBC.

Security video posted by KNBC and other Los Angeles-area television stations shows a coyote dragging the young girl down the sidewalk by her leg.

Eliyahuo dashes around the SUV and charges the animal, causing it to drop his daughter and back away, the video shows. He scoops her up and hurls a water bottle at the coyote, which runs away.

“I saw her pants were stained with blood,” mom Shira Eliyahuo, who ran from the house to help, told KNBC.

The girl was treated at a hospital for scratches to her legs and given a rabies shot, according to KTLA.

Wildlife officials will try to collect DNA from the girl’s clothing to identify the coyote, KTTV reported.

“This coyote has been a major problem on this street for weeks,” Patrick Foy, a California Department of Fish and Wildlife public information captain, told the Los Angeles Times.

“We had already been talking about this as there were previous reports about the coyote potentially threatening pets,” Foy told the publication.

He said seven coyote attacks against humans have been reported in Los Angeles County this year. If the coyote that attacked the toddler is found, it will be euthanized.

This story was originally published December 4, 2022 at 10:54 AM with the headline "Bold coyote grabs toddler outside California home — then dad steps in, video shows."