Irvine Neighborhood On Alert After Coyote Attacks Man, 3-Year-Old Son
IRVINE (CBSLA.com) — An Irvine father and his 3-year-old boy are recovering after they were attacked by a coyote.
The incident has residents on alert as it's the sixth coyote attack in the Portola Springs area this year, according to city officials.
Five of the victims are children.
"She was just walking back and forth, just waiting," according to Nelson Calimquim, who says the coyote stalked him and his small dog Wednesday evening in his area.
"When I turned around, it was like right behind. He was like 10-feet away. He was in the prance, the prone attack position," said Calimquim.
He believes the same coyote just minutes later attacked his neighbor and the child while the man was working in his front yard.
"The dad had his back to the streets and his son, his 3-year-old son jumped on his back, and then he realized when he got up, his son had been bite by a coyote," said another man.
The toddler was bit twice. The coyote also scratched his dad. The two were treated at the hospital and released.
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife is now searching for and hoping to trap the coyote from Wednesday night's attack.
"It's like what can we do to protect ourselves," asked Calimquim, who walks with an air horn and umbrella after his dog was bitten last spring.
