Coyote Awareness in Nashville, TN

A five-year-old Vernon girl was attacked by a coyote while on an evening stroll with her family.

The family, a mother and her two daughters, were walking with their puppy in a greenbelt area near Alexis Park Drive when they saw the animal Monday.

Conservation officer Josh Lockwood said the family reacted just as they should have: The mother scooped up the dog into her arms and they walked away from the coyote.

“But the coyote was fixated on the dog and I think when the little girl turned her back to walk away, the coyote reached out and snapped at the back of her leg,” Lockwood said.

The five-year-old screamed and the coyote bolted.

“The girl suffered minor puncture wounds on both sides of her calf,” Lockwood said, adding that she was treated in hospital and released Tuesday.

The animal was not found by Tuesday afternoon, despite an extensive search.

An estimated 2,000 to 3,0000 coyotes live in the Lower Mainland, and they are a common sight in Vernon.

Coyote attacks on humans are very rare in B.C. There have been four instances of attacks in the past 15 years and seven attacks in B.C. since 2006.

“You have some individuals at nearby schools . . . they think it’s cute to feed coyotes out of their hands and so the coyotes become very used to humans,” Lockwood said.

“That’s what happens when you have a rural-urban interface.”