A two-year-old girl is recovering at home after she was attacked by a coyote while visiting a cemetery in southern California.
Klarissa Barrera, of Long Beach, was given a rabies shot and treated for a gash on her calf after the animal set upon her.
She was attacked 10ft from her mother as the family visited a relative's grave at the Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Cypress.
Mum Michelle Luper said the coyote bit her daughter on the back and dragged her towards some bushes. The animal let go when she screamed and lunged to free her daughter.
"My three-year-old said 'oh a doggy' and I said 'no that's a coyote.' As I was running over there my daughter Klarissa turned around and it bit her," said Michelle.
"I let out this horrific scream once I got to her and it let go and growled."
After the attack, which happened on Thursday, state wildfire officials shot and killed three coyotes, also known as prairie wolves, at the cemetery.
Experts say coyote attacks on people are rare. This was the first reported in Orange County this year.
Two people have been killed in coyote attacks. In 1981, three-year-old Kelly Keen died in surgery from blood loss after she was attacked on the driveway of her home in Glendale California. And in 2009, Canadian Taylor Mitchell died as a result of injuries after she was attacked by a group of coyotes while hiking in Nova Scotia.