Dog saves girl during
coyote attack

PRUDENCE ISLAND, R.I. (WPRI) - The Department of Environmental Management is investigating reports of a coyote attacking a little girl.

It happened on Prudence Island, where a seven-year-old girl was apparently grabbed and dragged towards the woods by a coyote.

The girl had gone out to play in her backyard after 4 p.m., right around dusk last week. Her dog, Kelly went with her.

Officials say the child's dog fought off the coyote and saved her from serious injury.

DEM officials say that if the animal was in fact a coyote, it would be the first recorded coyote attack on a person in the state of Rhode Island.