coyote attack on 3 year old

 

On the 11th of August 2021 our sweet little Elodie was attacked by a coyote while we were watching the sunset on Herring Cove beach in Provincetown, MA.

 

She was about five feet away from us and it came up behind her and grabbed her around the neck.

 

She had puncture wounds to the back of her neck and skull, a puncture wound and laceration to her left cheek, a laceration to her ear which was mutilated as well as scratch marks along her neck. She and I went to the hospital via ambulance where there was luckily a plastic surgeon on call. The photos posted below are graphic sorry.

 

Elodie had 3 doses of ketamine while the surgeon sutured her for approximately 1.5 hours, as well as two doses of rabies vaccine, and antibiotics. Luckily the rangers were able to shoot and locate the coyote, it then tested negative for rabies which meant Elodie was able to stop the gruelling course of rabies vaccines.

 

Physically Elodie is healing. Mentally we’re all going to take time to heal. Elodie’s school has been amazing and has provided a play therapist in case she needs it. I am going to start therapy soon to help with flashbacks, and the guilt that I’m carrying over what happened to Elodie.

 

For everything that went wrong that horrible evening, so many things went right, and we feel so lucky that God was watching over our little one. If we hadn’t been with my mom we wouldn’t have been able to call 911, if her sister Eve had been there as well it would have been even more traumatic, if the coyote had bit Elodie a few inches over on her neck this story would have had a completely different ending.

 

Since this has all happened I’ve gone through every emotion. I was terrified, sad, heartbroken, confused, upset and as Elodie’s scars begin to fade and the flashbacks come less frequently, my overwhelming emotion now is anger. I’m angry that this happened to my 3 year old child, I’m angry that this particular coyote was known to the national seashore as an aggressive coyote, yet was allowed to continue to roam at the beach, I’m angry that watching the sunset at the beach-something we’ve done every year since I was a child, is now tainted by what’s happened. I’m angry that for a few days I HATED my happy place and never wanted to return. I’m angry that my child is scared to leave my side, that she’s having nightmares and is too young to understand why this is happening. I’m angry I had to tell my child that she was attacked from behind, by a wild animal, every child’s worst nightmare. How do you even being to explain this to them, and how do you ever make it right again?!

 

We are reaching out to all of you to not only help us raise funds, but to share Elodie’s story in the hopes of raising awareness about what happened. I know that covid has affected so many people, if helping financially isn’t something you can do, sharing this post to spread awareness is equally important!

 

I have been in contact with the National Seashore to see what they are doing about preventing this from happening in the future. I’m determined to not have Elodie’s story end here. If something this awful had to happen to my child I don’t want it to be for nothing, I want to use this platform to help make change. As a direct result of Elodie’s attack, coyote warning signs have been introduced along the beach at Herring Cove, but this is not enough. There need to be flyers handed out to beachgoers so they know about the coyote problem, there needs to be bleed kits and SOS phones to help keep others safe if this ever happens again. If we somehow are able to cover the medical bills, finding a way to help get these things mentioned above is my next goal. I will continue to fight for these changes to be made, so that when I return to my happy place next year we can put this all behind us and once again fall in love with watching the sunset and stars in the most beautiful place on the planet.