Warning issued in Stamford after 12-year-old girl stalked by coyotes

STAMFORD, Connecticut (WABC) -- A 12-year-old girl says she was stalked by a trio of coyotes as she walked home from school in Stamford.

Now the town is raising the alarm.

"It was pretty scary, I was more in shock than scared," said the girl, Navya Sharma.

She is home safe and sound, but there were some scary moments this week.

On Monday she says she was walking from her school bus stop when she saw three coyotes following her in the woods near her house.

One growled and showed its teeth, she says.

"Called my mom, she told me to keep calm. Then one came out of the woods and I started to run," said Navya.

Coyotes are not uncommon. They are generally more visible at night, but do hunt for small animals like squirrels, chipmunks and rabbits in the daytime.

Wednesday, the city's animal control officer was in North Stamford reminding residents to not leave their pets loose in their yards and making sure rabies vaccinations are up to date.

"There's no predators to the coyotes besides ourselves and we have to make sure that if we are uncomfortable with coyotes around our properties that we are scaring them away," said Tilford Cobb of Stamford Animal Control.

Nearby schools also sent letters home to parents. There have been a number of reported coyote sightings and recently a dog was killed near a golf course.

Stamford is considering trapping, though that usually has limited results.

"It's likely that new coyotes will re-populate that area, so it's not a matter of just trapping coyotes and getting rid of them, that's not going to happen," said Cobb. "You're not going to get rid of the coyotes."

As for Navya, "I don't want to walk down these streets again, what if something happens next time?", she says.