Coyote attack: Passing motorist saves woman and dog stalked by 3 animals in Vancouver's Stanley Park
Five minutes into her daily walk with her dog Molly in Vancouver's Stanley Park on Monday, Keenya Pierre said, three coyotes appeared from the bush and attacked her pet.
The encounter happened on a trail near the baseball field, just past Prospect Point.
At first she only spotted one, and thought it was a dog. But when she saw two others hunched over and slowly creeping up, she knew they were coyotes.
Pierre told CTV News she only had seconds to think, and debated fight or flight, when they pounced on Molly.
“So I grabbed her by the collar and started kicking the coyotes that I could kick,” she said. “I started to scream like bloody murder.”
She yelled at her dog to go ahead, and for next 10 minutes the pack stalked Pierre. Initially all three stood in front of her, teeth bared, then two broke-off and circled her.
“It was terrifying, I won’t lie. It was probably the scariest thing I’ve ever had to deal with,” she recounted. “Here I am in the middle of Stanley Park, no one in sight, like no one. I was screaming for help and no one heard me.”
She was also throwing whatever she could find at the animals, but the coyotes refused to give up.
Finally at a clearing, she waved down a passing motorist.
“I picked her up and just put her in the truck. I didn’t care who that person was, I did not care. If they were going to kidnap us, I was like, she just needs to be safe in the truck,” Pierre said of Molly.
She and the dog are shaken but somehow not badly hurt. Even so, Pierre said there is “no chance” she will go into the park again, and is warning others, some areas of Stanley Park are not safe.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Quebec nurse had to clean up after husband's death in Montreal hospital
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
Northern Ont. lawyer who abandoned clients in child protection cases disbarred
A North Bay, Ont., lawyer who abandoned 15 clients – many of them child protection cases – has lost his licence to practise law.
Bank of Canada officials split on when to start cutting interest rates
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
Maple Leafs fall to Bruins in Game 3, trail series 2-1
Brad Marchand scored twice, including the winner in the third period, and added an assist as the Boston Bruins downed the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-2 to take a 2-1 lead in their first-round playoff series Wednesday
Cuban government apologizes to Montreal-area family after delivering wrong body
Cuba's foreign affairs minister has apologized to a Montreal-area family after they were sent the wrong body following the death of a loved one.
'It was instant karma': Viral video captures failed theft attempt in Nanaimo, B.C.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
What is changing about Canada's capital gains tax and how does it impact me?
The federal government's proposed change to capital gains taxation is expected to increase taxes on investments and mainly affect wealthy Canadians and businesses. Here's what you need to know about the move.
New Indigenous loan guarantee program a 'really big deal,' Freeland says at Toronto conference
Canada's Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland was among the 1,700 delegates attending the two-day First Nations Major Projects Coalition (FNMPC) conference that concluded Tuesday in Toronto.
'Life was not fair to him': Daughter of N.B. man exonerated of murder remembers him as a kind soul
The daughter of a New Brunswick man recently exonerated from murder, is remembering her father as somebody who, despite a wrongful conviction, never became bitter or angry.