A little girl was attacked by a wild animal the moment she stepped outside of her family's home in Seattle. She was almost dragged away during the attack.
The wild animal appears to have been a coyote, according to father Chang Tong. He said that he exited the home behind his daughter Lena. The little girl mistook the wild animal for a local dog and tried to pet it. That's when the coyote latched down on her hand and tried to drag her away from her home.
"She was about to pet the dog at that time, and with just one second, the coyote just bit her hand and tried to drag her," Tong told CBS affiliate KIRO. "She was dragged to the ground."
Tong recalled that he was seconds away from his daughter when she stepped outside. "It was just walking on the mat," Tong recalled. He immediately sprang into action and came to his daughter's defense. Screaming at the animal, he managed to scare it away from the house and his daughter.
Wild Animal Attack
Unfortunately, the wild animal had bit Lena on the hand. So, she had to go to the emergency room. While there, doctors gave her a rabies shot as a precaution and treated her injuries. Moving forward, Tong said he plans to keep his front gate closed to stop another wild animal from entering his property.
He warned others about the dangers of animals like coyotes. "We may have some weapons, like a stake or a knife, somewhere handy," he told KIRO. "If a neighbor saw it, it's better for them to recognize it's a coyote. It's not a dog.'"
It's not the first wild animal attack to happen in Bellevue. It appears the city has had run-ins with coyotes as of late. In fact, the same day that Lena encountered the wild animal, another coyote attacked a group of students at a bus stop in a nearby city. It tried to bite them. There have been other incidents as well.
A coyote stole a student's backpack. Classic dog ate my homework, am I right? Other coyote attacks include a man in his garage and a woman on her patio.
Washington's Department of Fish and Wildlife has killed one of the coyotes involved in those attacks. They're on the search for the other animal.
