Coyote attacks 2 more joggers in Frisco

FRISCO, Texas - Frisco police confirmed there was another coyote attack early Monday morning. It’s the fifth incident in the city since October.

Monday’s attack happened before dawn on Eldorado Parkway between Granbury Drive and Rogers Road.

As Sheri Devore and Marcia Foster were wrapping up a 45-minute run at 5:30 Monday morning, they suddenly found themselves face to face with a coyote.

“It didn’t take long before it started to lunge at my friend, Marsha,” she recalled. “It knocked her down. I was like trying to grab her to get up. And the overwhelming thought in my head was just stay up!  If you go down, that’s it.”

Devore says the most frightening part of the attack was after two minutes they started getting very tired. But the coyote wasn’t tired.

“It just kept coming, and coming and coming,” she said. “And it was just trying to wear us down.”

Devore says she knew the only way they were going to survive is if they got to the road where someone might see them in the dark early morning.

“Luckily, a car came over the hill,” she recalled. “It was our angel, Michael. His name really was Michael.”

“Right before I got to the Panther Creek there, I seen two ladies in the middle the street waving their hands,” recalled Michael Harvey.

On his way to work, Harvey says he immediately realized a coyote was trying to attack them.

“There were like trying to move away from it in the middle of the street,” he recalled. “Trying to get it to stop. Trying to make noises and getting it to stop to scare it off, but it wasn’t going.”

Harvey says he thought about trying to run over the coyote, but it was too close to the women. So he started honking his horn furiously and the women jumped in his car. He immediately took the women to the hospital.

Foster was bitten several times and has puncture wounds on her legs. Devore was grazed on her thigh, but wasn’t seriously injured.

Harvey’s still shocked at how aggressive and violent the coyote was.

“It’s just really surprised me how this animal had no fear, even when I try to pull up on him blowing the horn,” he said.

Frisco police are reiterating a warning by urging pedestrians to stay away from the area of the attack, which is now the fifth reported encounter.

“Until this aggressive coyote is caught, we’re asking our citizens to obviously take caution if you’re in the area,” Jeff Inman with Frisco PD.

Last month, the city hired a private trapper and sent animal control officers out to search for what they believe is a single coyote responsible for four other incidents all along Eldorado Parkway.

In one attack, the coyote jumped on a jogger. The jogger was bitten in the neck and had to undergo surgery. In another incident, the animal attacked a 9-year-old child, who was treated for minor injuries.

A Frisco police officer’s dash camera captured video of the animal stalking a jogger. The officer was able to scare it off with his sirens.

“The fact it actually approaching people and going after people, that’s what makes it different than the others,” Frisco Police Officer Grant Cottingham said. “Normally, it’s kind of like the other wild animals, they’re more scared of us that we are them.”

Police said the best defense is some kind of device that makes noise like a whistle or an air horn or pepper spray.  They’ve encouraged people to report sightings and to avoid walking in the area with small pets.

Authorities have been in contact with and working with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.