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Coyotes have attacked people in at least two recent incidents in Swampscott, Mass., and both victims said the animals approached them in busy commercial areas.
Kathy Ellis and her sister had just finished dinner at Bertucci’s over the weekend and were about to get into their car when Ellis felt something in her leg.
“I felt a big bump against my thigh,” she said. “Thinking it was a puppy or a dog, I turned around and my sister said I screamed. I saw this huge coyote standing there looking at me.”
She didn’t even realize she had a puncture wound from the coyote.
“I had a can of seltzer in my hand and threw it at him to get him away from the door,” she said. “I slammed the door and just stared at him. He picked up the can and he started trotting.”
Ellis is on vacation from Texas and visiting family in Massachusetts for July 4th.
“It wasn’t part of the vacation plan at all,” she said.
She’s not the only one to have been attacked by a coyote in this bustling commercial area of Swampscott.
“At first I thought it was a horsefly or some kind of insect,” said John Malafronte. “I turned my head and wasn’t expecting a coyote that’s for sure.”
A few weeks ago, Malafronte had just stopped for a cigarette in the mall across from Bertucci’s when a coyote approached him.
“Either he wins or I win,” Malafronte said. “I will be sacred if he is going to win.”
Malafronte was bitten in the leg. He used a pole in his truck to hunt the coyote.
“As he walked away, he looked at me like I had you,” Malafronte said. “I called the police, the paramedics came.”
The two victims receive a series of rabies shots and warn area shoppers to be very aware that coyotes are out even in busy parking lots.
According to the Massachusetts Division of Fish and Wildlife, coyotes often live in suburban or urban areas, but they are generally afraid of people. They are known to prey on unattended livestock and pets.
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