The Aporia · Arizona mom used her flip-flop to fight off a coyote attacking her 4-year-old daughter

Arizona mom used her flip-flop to fight off a coyote attacking her 4-year-old daughter

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Cite

APA MLA Chicago

Joseph, S. (2026, September 14). Arizona mom used her flip-flop to fight off a coyote attacking her 4-year-old daughter. Fox News. https://www.foxnews.com/outkick-culture/arizona-mom-used-flip-flop-fight-coyote-attacking-4-year-old-daughter

Dated when The Aporia collected the article, usually within hours of publication. Check the original for its exact date and byline.

Quick Summary

In Phoenix, Arizona, a mother named Brittany Cardinal used her flip-flop to fend off a coyote attacking her four-year-old daughter. The incident occurred while they were flying kites in their neighborhood when the coyote began nipping at the child; Cardinal tried to scare it away but was bitten on the face after falling. She sustained lacerations and puncture wounds from the bite. Arizona Game and Fish officials have since removed several coyotes from the area for testing, confirming that Cardinal followed proper protocol in fighting back against the animal.

Written by AI on 2026-09-15, from this article's own text only (the story summary below draws on all the coverage).

AI analysis

Story summary

On a Sunday afternoon in Arizona, Brittany Cardinal was flying a kite with her 4-year-old daughter when they encountered a coyote that began attacking the child. After lifting her daughter to safety and yelling at the animal, Cardinal used her flip-flop to fend off the coyote but fell during their struggle and sustained a bite on her face. Despite the pain, she managed to scare the coyote away, ensuring both her and her daughter's escape unharmed. Alex Flickinger, public affairs community liaison for Arizona Game and Fish, advised residents to be prepared to fight back against such threats using any means necessary, including yelling or throwing objects like rocks.

Written for “Coyote Attack On Child” on 2026-10-30, grounded in this article and the 0 other(s) covering the same event.

Compared with similar articles

Nothing to compare against. No article is close enough to this one for the pipeline to have linked or judged the pair.

How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted

sentences that state something as happening or true

Uncertain

1 of 18 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")

Leaning

not political

takes no side on a contested political question

Publisher signals

70/100

Fox News's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.

Outlets on this story

Environment

Same framing elsewhere

articles that frame the event the way this one does

Analyzed 2026-09-15 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability

Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

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Running correction rate · 10 correction(s)

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Who wrote this

Sean Joseph

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Topics

AZ Family Arizona Arizona Game and Fish Cardinal

Subjects

Cardinal ORG · 4× Arizona Game and Fish ORG · 2× AZ Family ORG · 1× Alex Flickinger PERSON · 1× Arizona GPE · 1× Brittany Cardinal PERSON · 1×

Narrative

Alex Flickinger, public affairs community liaison for Arizona Game and Fish, said, "You fight back, you yell at the animal, be loud with it, throw rocks, whatever you have to do to get that animal to just run off."

framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-09-15

2026-09-15 · Fox News

Arizona mom used her flip-flop to fight off a coyote attacking her 4-year-old daughter · assertive framing

Claims (18 extracted, 1 hedged)

An Arizona mom out in her neighborhood flying a kite with her 4-year-old daughter a couple of Sundays ago found herself in a fight with a coyote that refused to back down. asserted

that → fly → coyote

The coyote had started nipping at the little girl, according to mom Brittany Cardinal, and before she knew it, mom was swinging her flip-flop at it. uncertain

mom → start → it

"We had gone outside because it was windy. And my daughter’s like, 'oh, let's fly a kite,'" Cardinal said, reports AZ Family. asserted

Family → go → kite

That was until mom heard her daughter scream and saw the coyote going after the girl. asserted

coyote → hear → girl

"I picked her up and then I started yelling at it, thinking, of course, it’s going to go away, and then it didn't," Cardinal said. asserted

Cardinal → pick → course

"So then I took off my flip-flop, and I was trying to scare it with that by like trying to hit it." asserted

I → take → it

As the mom tried to fight off the coyote and get it to leave them alone, she fell. asserted

she → try → them

The coyote then bit her on the face. asserted

coyote → bite → face

"I always hear people say like, 'you don’t feel the pain when like trauma like that happens,' and I mean, I really didn’t feel any pain," Cardinal said of the bite. asserted

Cardinal → hear → bite

"I just felt like the pressure of it." asserted

I → feel → it

Mom and daughter were eventually able to get away from the feisty coyote and make it back home. asserted

Mom → get → it

Mom had lacerations and puncture wounds on her face from the bite. asserted

Mom → have → bite

Arizona Game and Fish officials have removed several coyotes from the area following the incident and are testing them for rabies. asserted

officials → remove → rabies

They said that Cardinal did everything you're supposed to do during a coyote attack. asserted

you → say → attack

I guess everything except for getting bitten on the face. asserted

I → guess → face

That I highly doubt is in the protocol. asserted

I → doubt → protocol

But everything else she did correctly. asserted

she → do → everything

animal → say → whatever