(NECN: Josh Brogadir, Weymouth, MA) - This was a frightening attack, a little girl walking alongside her grandmother, before noon today, when a coyote came out of the woods and bit her head.
"She was walking along and from behind a coyote came up and knocked the baby down and took a bite from the back of her head, a pretty good sized bite, " said Robin Gallagher, the aunt of the two-year-old girl who now has stitches in her head.
Gallagher did not want to say her niece's name but told us she's home from the hospital resting, hours after the frightening attack.
It was before noon, she was walking alongside her grandmother next to this stroller by these hedges on Clarendon Street in South Weymouth, Massachusetts.
The coyote came out of nowhere.
Fortunately, Elle Ramponi rushed outside to help when she heard the girl scream.
"He wasn't moving that coyote, so I just told her, get over here, opened the door and I told her to run," Ramponi said.
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"She said come into the house, and they did which really was a godsend because if no one was around, I mean that coyote was really trying to go after them," Gallagher said.
Animal control officers have been searching for the coyote, to see if it is rabid.
Neighbors are worried.
"The fact that they didn't catch the animal when it's out in daylight is a little concerning," said neighbor Brian Letendre.
So where do these coyotes live?
According to Ramponi, animal control officers say there are five packs of coyotes living in these woods by the reservoir.
Other neighbors say they've seen coyotes walking on the street.
"It looks like a German Shepherd that nobody took care of, just really scruffy, it's pretty scary, I have five grandchildren too that come over all the time and I told them today stay home, don't come over," neighbor Denise Hatch said.
They say construction over by the reservoir is moving the coyotes around.
Whatever caused this wild animal to attack this little girl, it certainly could have been much worse.
"They are where they are but it's just horrifying that it went after a child like that, a small child that was with a bigger person," Ramponi added.
And Ramponi says after the attack, she called 911, looked out her back window and the coyote was still in her backyard, listening to the girl scream, she thinks.
As of now, Weymouth Police say the coyote still has not been found.
