— A Surprise mother is recovering after fighting off a coyote that began attacking her 4-year-old daughter over the weekend, leaving the woman with lacerations and puncture wounds on her face.
Arizona Game and Fish Officials said it is the first recorded coyote attack on a person in the Valley since December 2023.
How the attack unfolded
Brittany Cardinal said the attack happened during what started as a Sunday afternoon of kite flying in her Surprise neighborhood.
“We had gone outside because it was windy. And my daughter’s like, ‘oh, let’s fly a kite,’” Cardinal said.
Cardinal said she heard her daughter scream and turned around to see a coyote nipping at her.
“I picked her up and then I started yelling at it, thinking, of course it’s going to go away, and then it didn’t,” Cardinal said.
When the coyote did not back down, Cardinal said she did not either.
“So then I took off my flip-flop, and I was trying to scare it with that by like trying to hit it,” Cardinal said.
During the struggle, Cardinal fell, and the coyote lunged, clamping down on her face.
“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,” Cardinal said.
Cardinal and her daughter eventually managed to back away from the coyote and ran home for help.
Wildlife officials respond
Alex Flickinger, public affairs community liaison for Arizona Game and Fish, said the reason for the attack is unclear.
“It’s really not clear as to why the coyote decided to do this,” Flickinger said.
She said officers have removed several coyotes from the area and are testing them for rabies.
Safety precautions
Flickinger said Cardinal responded the way people are supposed to when a coyote attacks.
“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 said.
Cardinal said she did not weigh her options before acting.
“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,” Cardinal said.
She said she will now carry pepper spray with her at all times.
Arizona Game and Fish said human-coyote encounters increase as temperatures cool off.
The agency advises keeping pet food, trash and anything that smells like food put away, and making a coyote that wanders into a yard feel uncomfortable by yelling or clapping so it does not return.
