A Bellevue father says his daughter was bit by a coyote just inches away from their front door.
“It was just walking on the mat,” Chang Tong said, pointing at his door mat.
The incident is one of five recent close calls involving coyotes in Bellevue in the past week.
It happened in the Factoria neighborhood on Tuesday.
Tong was standing just inside the door, when his four-year-old daughter pushed the door open and took a step outside.
Both of them thought the animal was a dog due to its size grey and white coloring.
“She [was] about to pet on the dog at that time, and with just one second, the coyote just bit her hand and tried to drag her,” he said. “She was dragged to the ground.”
Tong knew he had a split second to react. He yelled at the coyote to scare it away. It worked.
He took his daughter to the emergency room for minor injuries on her palm, where she received a rabies shot.
Earlier that same day in Factoria, a coyote went up to a group of kids waiting at a bus stop and tried to bite them, ripping some of their clothes.
A day earlier, a backpack was stolen by a coyote after a student left it on the sidewalk near Tyee Middle School.
A week earlier, two adults were bit in separate incidents. A man was bit by a coyote on his leg in his open garage in Factoria. A woman was bit on her leg while sitting on her patio in Norwood Village.
Washington’s Department of Fish and Wildlife has killed one coyote they believe is involved. They are still searching for another.
“We have officers in the morning coming out here when the kids get on the bus,” Sgt. Carlo Pace said.
They’re trying to raise awareness with residents too.
“If a neighbor saw it, it’s better for them to recognize it’s a coyote,” Tong said. “It’s not a dog.”