SWAMPSCOTT — A Texas woman was bitten by a coyote Saturday after exiting a Bertucci’s restaurant on Paradise Road — the same area in which a man was bitten in the leg just weeks prior, police said.
“My sister and I went for dinner, and we were at Bertucci’s, and we were coming out,” said Kathy Ellis, the woman who was attacked.
Ellis said that she opened the back seat of the car and put leftovers in before going to sit in the driver’s seat. She sat down and felt “a push, a real thump” on her thigh, and she thought it was a dog or a puppy, and she turned around.
“My sister said I screamed pretty loud, and I was face to face with the coyote,” said Ellis.
She said that she threw a can of water at the animal that had been in her hand, and it moved, enabling her to close the door. But, the coyote continued to sit there and watch her, eventually picking up the can and trodding off.
Then somebody else drove up and Ellis and her sister watched the coyote leave, near the bank and across the street. Ellis checked her pants to make sure the animal didn’t bite her, and she said to her sister, “this really hurts.” But it wasn’t before Ellis got home that she realized that the coyote had punctured her through the fabric, and there was blood on the inside of her pants.
Ellis’s sister suggested that she should go to the emergency room, but it was late, so she decided to call the police first and go to the emergency room in the morning. Ellis felt that she needed to report the incident after learning that a similar event happened recently, police said.
Ellis was advised to seek medical attention at MGH Salem Emergency Department, or to at least seek medical treatment at an Urgent Care in the morning. The next day the police contacted Ellis to follow up on her condition, which turned out to be normal. She also had an appointment at the Lahey Clinic later in the day.
Ellis said that she went to the emergency room the next morning to get vaccinated for rabies, among other things.
Community groups on social media showed residents complaining about the increasing number of coyotes in the community and uploaded videos of coyotes being seen in the vicinity of their residences, and they also raised safety concerns.
Ellis said that what she thinks needs to happen is that people need to be aware of this, be attentive, and that residents shouldn’t leave food for animals in the area, or outside of dumpsters, because it attracts coyotes.
Ellis said that although she has always been a very attentive person, she didn’t see the coyote approaching. It was dark, she said, and even though there was light in the area, she still couldn’t see it. She added that the fact that the animal attacked her when she was already in the car means that the brazen animal had no fear of humans.
“What if it was a child or an animal, they wouldn’t have a chance,” said Ellis.
Oksana Kotkina can be reached at [email protected].
