Kent, WA — A pack of wild coyotes attacked a man in Washington Friday, leaving him with wounds that forced him to spend most of the evening in the hospital.
Q13Fox.com reports that Faron Scarberry was walking his dog Friday outside his home in Kent, Washington when three coyotes emerged from the woods approached him.
“They were coming around the bush and I guess they were going after my puggle,” Scarberry said. “One of them lunged up towards me and I kind of pushed it away with my hand and its front claws scratched my hand and wrist. Then one of the grabbed me by the pant leg and started shaking my leg so I just started kicking and hitting at them to get them off of me and they ran back under the fence.”
As a result of the attack, Scarberry spent most of the night in the emergency room, diagnosed with a coyote bites and scratches. In addition, he had to endure 26 painful rabies injections, two shots in his hip, and 24 in his leg.
Despite the incident, Scarberry insisted he and his dog would remain in Kent and that the run-in wouldn’t scare him away.
“I’m not a big city person so this is more my style,” he said.
Wildlife experts say winter is the time of year coyote issues become more constant, as the lack of fruit — a staple in the coyote’s diet — send the animals savaging for food.
“They rely heavily on fruit. All the fruit is gone now, so they’re now in scavenging mode – cats, little dogs are a treat, and they’ll eat them,” Sgt. Kim Chandler of the Washington state Department of Fish and Wildlife says.
KOMO News has more on Faron Scaryberry’s scary coyote attack . Here’s a video discussing the attack:
