Westchester police are on the lookout for two coyotes that mauled a 6-year-old girl in Rye. The girl was playing in her front yard with her sisters when the coyotes "pounced" from a bush, biting her on the shoulder, thigh and possibly ear and scratching her back.
The girl's sisters' screams got the attention of their mother, who then scared the coyotes. Rye Police Chief William Connors said, "Her injuries are not life-threatening but she sustained a number of significant bite wounds and lacerations... It seems that she was probably the smallest of the group and the attack seemed to focus solely on her." Police, who suspect the coyotes may be rabid, are warning residents with young children to be extra careful.
Police had managed to find a coyote at the country club and even fired at it, but the coyote got away. The Rye police will be setting up traps for the coyotes. A neighbor of the victim told the Journal News that he bought an air horn to use while walking his dog; after seeing a coyote the size of a German Shepard, he is now "totally paranoid."
In April, a coyote killed a toy poodle in Rye. In Manhattan, a coyotes were spotted around Manhattan earlier this year; one was captured in lower Manhattan.
