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Ariel Eliyahuo told CNN that his daughter, Ariya, had to have multiple rabies shots after the attack, which happened at about 3.45pm on Friday after he’d brought his children home from daycare.
Video from a Ring security camera shows the coyote run up to grab Ariya and start dragging her in the seconds before her father could react.
“I heard Ariya scream. I thought she fell down,” Eliyahuo told CNN.
“I ran immediately to see what was going on and I saw the coyote attack her.
“I picked her up in my arms and tried to make the coyote go away.”
You can hear other people screaming off-camera.
Once his daughter was in his arms, Eliyahuo tried to shoo the coyote away and then threw a water bottle at it as it ran.
He took his daughter inside and picked up a board and walked after the coyote.
Eliyahuo said his wife saw blood on their daughter’s pants, so they rushed her to the hospital, where she got multiple rabies shots.
He said his daughter is doing better, but both of his children were scared by the experience.
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They live in Woodland Hills, which is a built-up neighbourhood, so he wouldn’t have expected this to happen there, he said.
“We don’t live in a zoo, we live in Los Angeles,” Eliyahuo said.
“Now I’m really, really, really afraid to let the kids go out, even in the backyard, by themselves.”
Wildlife officials with dart rifles are working to try to catch the coyote, Captain Patrick Foy, a public information officer with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, told CNN.
There’s an animal lurking in this picture. Can you spot it?
There were a couple of coyote sightings in the area Saturday night, but they were unable to catch them, Foy said.
Authorities have taken samples from the girl’s clothing and are hoping to collect DNA they can use to identify the animal once they catch it.
The coyote will be euthanised so they can test it for rabies, Foy said.
It is unusual for coyotes to roam in such built-up areas, but it does happen, he said.
Earlier this year, a coyote attacked a two-year-old girl in nearby Orange County, according to police there.
