The girl was stargazing on the beach with her family when the attack occurred.
A 3-year-old girl is recovering after being attacked by a coyote in Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Little Elodie was enjoying a family vacation and stargazing on the beach when the attack happened.
“We just heard a blood-curdling scream,” mom Megan Lewis told Inside Edition. She says her husband scooped up the girl and they all fled to the car.
“It was stalking us the entire way up to the car. It was less than three feet away from us. I thought it was a dog at first, but then I saw it in the seagrass, and it was just staring at us,” Lewis said.
The coyote is thought to be the same one that was seen stalking a woman on Cape Cod last month in a viral video. Marcy Sterlis says she tried everything to chase away the coyote. She was rescued when boaters saw what was going on, came close to the shore and pulled her aboard.
Now comes the attack on the little girl.
“We're aware of what it could have been,” Lewis said, breaking down into tears.
A park ranger found the coyote 15 minutes later and shot it to death. It was tested and did not have rabies.
Wildlife experts say the coyotes are becoming habituated to humans, who are either feeding the creatures or leaving behind food, which the coyotes then find.
