A two-year-old boy from Texas was mauled by a coyote, which left the child in critical condition and prompted police to shoot at the wild animal, NBC DFW reported Tuesday.
The attack occurred Tuesday morning in Dallas while the young boy was sitting on his porch, NBC DFW reported. Police who responded to the incident shot at the animal before it returned to the nearby woods, according to the outlet. It was unknown if any of the shots actually struck the animal.
The two-year-old boy was transported to the hospital following the attack and was reported to be in critical condition, according to the outlet. Area residents, including Clark Collier, reportedly said they saw the coyote prior to the Tuesday attack. (RELATED: Woman Fends Off Coyote On The Beach Using Just A Stick In Wild Video)
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“Fortunately [my family and I] were able to scare the coyote into this little drainage area, the creek right there, but I called the city right after that and said, ‘Hey this is not normal, this coyote appears like it’s going to attack somebody,'” Collier told NBC DFW of the instance in which he saw the animal. Collier said he spotted the coyote while at a school park on Easter Sunday, according to the outlet.
Following the incident Tuesday, the Dallas Police Department shared a photo of the wild animal to its Twitter feed, warning residents to be on alert.
“Reported Animal Attack by a coyote on the 9200 block of Royalpine Dr.,” the tweet read. “All those who live or visit the area should be on alert and call 911 if they locate the coyote.”
Reported Animal Attack by a coyote in the 9200 block of Royalpine Dr. All those who live or visit the area should be on alert and call 911 if they locate the coyote. pic.twitter.com/kMo8z5xSe1
— Dallas Police Dept (@DallasPD) May 3, 2022
The attack follows a previous April 28 incident that occurred in Huntington Beach, California, where a two-year-old girl was attacked by a coyote, according to the Associated Press (AP). The coyote involved in the California attack was reportedly shot dead.
Texas urban wildlife biologist Sam Kieschnick believed the coyote was being intentionally or unintentionally fed by humans, because they typically don’t engage in human contact. Coyote attacks are “exceedingly rare,” he told the AP.