A Surprise, Arizona, mother grabbed the nearest thing she had — a flip-flop — and fought off a coyote after it began attacking her 4-year-old daughter during a kite-flying outing.
Brittany Cardinal is recovering after suffering facial lacerations and puncture injuries when the animal lunged at her during the confrontation, according to AZFamily.
Here's what to know
Arizona Game and Fish officials confirmed that the Valley had not had a documented coyote attack on a person since December 2023.
Cardinal explained that the episode began on a windy afternoon in her Surprise neighborhood after her daughter asked to go outside and fly a kite.
After hearing her daughter scream, Cardinal turned and found a coyote "nipping at her." She picked up the child and yelled at the animal, but it did not retreat.
Cardinal then took off her flip-flop and started swinging it to scare the coyote away. During the struggle, she fell, and the coyote lunged and bit her in the face.
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She described the shock of the moment.
"I always hear people say like, 'you don't feel the pain when like trauma like that happens,' and I mean, I really didn't feel any pain. I just felt like the pressure of it."
More background
Officials have not determined what caused the attack.
"It's really not clear as to why the coyote decided to do this," said Alex Flickinger, a public affairs community liaison for Arizona Game and Fish.
The agency noted that run-ins with coyotes become more common as temperatures cool off.
Notably, the attack happened in a Surprise neighborhood rather than deep in the wilderness.
Coyotes are highly adaptable animals that regularly move through developed areas, and according to the BBC, encounters like these are occurring at an alarming rate.
Urban sprawl, higher average temperatures, and other consequences of human activity are forcing wild animals into increasingly close proximity, endangering people and wildlife.
Cardinal and her daughter eventually escaped the coyote and made it home for help.
What started as a simple afternoon of kite-flying ended in an emergency involving a rare recorded attack and serious facial injuries.
What's being done?
Flickinger said officers removed several coyotes from the area and tested them for rabies to determine whether disease may have played a role in the animal's behavior.
Flickinger added that Cardinal responded the way officials want people to react when a coyote becomes aggressive.
"You fight back, you yell at the animal, be loud with it, throw rocks, whatever you have to do to get that animal to just run off," Flickinger emphasized.
Cardinal admitted that the experience has already changed how she plans to move around her neighborhood, and she plans to keep pepper spray with her at all times.
Asked about her reaction, Cardinal said she had no time to second-guess herself because her daughter was in danger.
"There was no hesitation at all. I don't even think I thought about anything. I think you just, like as a mom, you just try to protect your kid."
Where can I learn more?
Recent coyote encounters elsewhere show how quickly these situations escalate, especially around children. They include chases, bites, and close calls in neighborhoods, parks, and other outdoor spaces.
• Near a Dallas trail, a coyote chased two children, alarming nearby families.
• At a national park, a tourist was bitten after trying to lure a coyote.
• In Missouri city parks, a coyote stalked residents and refused to back away.
• In North Carolina, a resident fought off a coyote during a near-fatal attack.
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