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The San Francisco Botanical Garden was closed last week after a 5-year-old girl was bit by a coyote.
The child was participating in a summer camp at the garden around 11:15 a.m, Friday. The animal came up from behind her and bit her on the buttocks, the child’s mother, Helen Sparrow, told the San Francisco Chronicle.
“She started to run, she tripped and it bit her on the bum when she was down,” the mother told the newspaper.
As the attack happened, counselors and campers tried “hazing” the coyote by yelling and clapping in an effort to get it away from the child, who the mother did not name out of concern for her privacy. Officials at the garden notified paramedics to respond to the attack. They arrived and placed ointment on the girl’s wound, her mother said.
Coyotes will roam the botanical gardens, as pictures posted on social media show close encounters between people and coyotes over the last several years.
Authorities with the San Francisco Animal Care and Control and California Department of Fish and Wildlife swabbed the area around the girl’s bite to get the coyote’s DNA evidence. The mother then took her daughter to the emergency room to get the wound stitched.
Officials also administered a rabies vaccine for the child even though coyotes do not normally test positive for rabies.
“She was mostly fine, just shocked,” Sparrow said.
After the hospital trip, the girl requested to be brought back to the garden to say bye to her friends. The mother noted the day of the attack also happened to be the last day of camp.
“They were very surprised to see her,” the mother said. Sparrow told the newspaper that she does not blame the camp’s organizers or the garden for what transpired last week.
Additionally, she said that the Department of Fish and Wildlife has “taken this very seriously.” The agency did not respond to the outlet’s request for comment.
As of Monday, the garden has been reopened to the public.
