Coyote injures 2 toddlers in separate attacks in Scottsdale: Officials

Arizona officials are searching for a large coyote who they say injured two toddlers in separate attacks in Scottsdale this week.

Kelly Pirozzi told ABC News she was standing in her driveway on Wednesday when the coyote approached and bit her 21-month-old son on the arm in a shocking moment caught on her surveillance camera.

The coyote knocked the toddler down, and once the boy started crying, the animal released his arm from its grip, Pirozzi said.

She then rushed her son into the house. Pirozzi said he's OK and only suffered minor bite marks.

"It happened so quickly," she said.

Just half a mile away from Pirozzi's home, another toddler was on a playground near an elementary school on Saturday when he was attacked by a coyote, according to Darren Julian, an urban wildlife specialist with Arizona Game and Fish.

His injuries were also minor, with "showings of scrape marks on his stomach," Julian told ABC News.

Julian said coyote attacks are rare. He said this week's incidents were the first in the Phoenix area since 2017.

But as officials search for the animal, Julian warned that parents should be "extra vigilant" -- even in their own backyards.

Arizona's Game and Fish Department said in a statement that this "coyote shows little fear of people and may have been illegally fed in the past."

The Game and Fish Department said it's patrolling the area with help from Scottsdale police. The department asks anyone who spots a coyote to immediately call 623-236-7201.