{"id":498000,"date":"2026-02-25T06:35:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-25T06:35:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/498000\/"},"modified":"2026-02-25T06:35:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-25T06:35:10","slug":"3-year-old-california-boy-narrowly-escapes-giant-coyote-prowling-his-driveway-security-footage-reveals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/498000\/","title":{"rendered":"3-Year-Old California Boy Narrowly Escapes ‘Giant Coyote’ Prowling His Driveway, Security Footage Reveals"},"content":{"rendered":"

NEED TO KNOW<\/p>\n

A 3-year-old boy, Salvo Bessemer, narrowly escaped an encounter with a coyote while walking out onto the driveway of his Pasadena home<\/p>\n

In home security footage, the toddler can be seen running back inside as the inquisitive creature follows closely behind<\/p>\n

“It’s one thing to see them go after a chihuahua or rabbit or whatever, but he’s pretty big, so it was scary,” the boy’s mother said of the coyote<\/p>\n

A toddler narrowly escaped a run-in with a coyote in front of his Pasadena, Calif., home.<\/p>\n

On Monday, Feb. 23, home security footage captured Salvo Bessemer, 3, walking out onto the driveway of the home he shares with his family, then immediately turning around and running back inside, letting out a terrified shriek as a coyote followed closely behind.<\/p>\n

“Sal went out the gate like he always does before me,” the child’s mom, Aida Svelto, told local outlet ABC7<\/a>. “Then I heard a scream, and Sal came running back. He grabbed onto my legs, then I screamed because I saw a big, giant coyote.”<\/p>\n

Once the toddler was safely back inside his home, the coyote could be seen retreating down the driveway after reaching the front door of the family’s home.<\/p>\n

After seeing the footage, Sal’s father, Leonard Bessemer, expressed that he was “flabbergasted” by the rare event.<\/p>\n

\u201c[Aida] texted me. She’s like, ‘A coyote just chased Sal,'” he recalled. “And I was like, ‘How?’ I checked the cameras. I was flabbergasted.”<\/p>\n

After all, Aida emphasized that “coyotes typically just stay on the street” when they are seen wandering around their California neighborhood.<\/p>\n

Never miss a story \u2014 sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter<\/a> to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer\u200b\u200b, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.<\/p>\n

\"StockStock photo of a coyote <\/p>\n

Getty<\/p>\n

“I really didn’t feel nervous. Now I’m nervous,” the mom noted after her son’s close encounter. “This one was bigger and scarier, and I just really didn’t think that he would go after a kid. It’s one thing to see them go after a chihuahua or rabbit or whatever, but he’s pretty big, so it was scary.”<\/p>\n

As Kevin McManus, the director of PR and communications for Pasadena Humane, told the outlet, coyotes are more active around this time of year due to mating season.<\/p>\n

“We’re going to be seeing them,” he explained. “We have seen them more in the last few weeks. Just be extra cautious. Keep an eye on your kids. Keep an eye on your pets.”<\/p>\n

Read the original article on People<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEED TO KNOW A 3-year-old boy, Salvo Bessemer, narrowly escaped an encounter with a coyote while walking out…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":498001,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[49,48,199433,199432,66,323],"class_list":["post-498000","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-pasadena-humane","tag-salvo-bessemer","tag-science","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/498000","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=498000"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/498000\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/498001"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=498000"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=498000"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=498000"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}