A toddler miraculously escaped after being mauled by a coyote before it ran away and attacked another child nearby.
Police are still hunting for the wild animal after it attacked a 21-month-old boy in Scottsdale, north of Phoenix last week.
Kelly Pirozzi, the mom of the toddler, told ABC News she was standing on the driveway of her home when the animal attacked her son.
The beast bit down on his arm before she was able to tear him free.
He was left with only minor bite marks after the terrifying attack and his mum said: ‘It happened so quickly’.
Pirozzi, a podiatric surgery specialist in the area, was able to capture footage of the attack on his home security camera.
While turning her back to unload her car, her son slowly wandered towards their front door.
https://abc30.com/video/embed/?pid=13006214
But a coyote locked on to him from inside the bushes and it is seen steadily moving towards him as he steps into the shadows.
After pouncing towards him and clamping down on his arm, Pirozzi said the animal eventually released him from its grip after he yelled out in terror.
But following the attack, another toddler in a playground near an elementary school was also set upon by a coyote just half a mile away.
Officials believe the coyote was behind both attacks, with the second victim suffering several ‘scrape marks on his stomach’, according to Darren Julian, and urban wildlife specialist with Arizona Game and Fish.
With the strikes happening in quick succession, Julian warns parents in the area to be ‘extra vigilant’ while the menace is still on the loose.
Arizona’s Game and Fish Department said in a statement that this ‘coyotes show little fear of people and may have been illegally fed in the past.’
However, despite officials so far failing to locate the wild dog, the wildlife specialist insists that coyote attacks are rare, with the latest incidences the first in the Phoenix area since 2017.
Officials also warn that feeding coyotes can make them lose their fear of humans and increase the risk of attacks.
People living in areas where the wild dogs roam have also been told to keep pets indoors, with the creatures known to prey on smaller dogs, cats, or other small mammals.
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