Strange days.
This past week, Huntington Beach was site of much jubilation, happy screams, as the International Surfing Association hosted its 2022 World Surfing Games with both bragging rights and extra Olympic slots up for grabs. Maybe money too. Well, as you know, Kanoa Igarashi won sending Japanese surf fans into titters and huzzah!
Last spring, though, very different screams filled the air. Shouts of terror as a menacing coyote became aggressively rude to a young child. The disturbing footage, recorded on a Surfline camera, features the aforementioned cur pouncing on the two-year-old girl and knocking her to the ground, rolling her to and fro then pouncing again while her minders stand nearby, mesmerized by Huntington’s iconic crumble.
Now, one of them, the child’s mother, is suing the city.
In a press conference, lawyer Sam Soleimany declares, “Frankly, she’s lucky to be alive at all. Unfortunately, she has developed scars on her face. She’s absolutely traumatized from all this, as is her mother.”
All very sad but how is Huntington Beach responsible for the horror?
According to Soleimany, coyotes had been known to “target pets and small children” in the area yet “there’s no coordinated effort anymore to get anything under control.”
Namely, the lack of “hazing teams.”
This is the first time I’ve ever heard “hazing” in this sort of context. Usually “hazing” is saved for college fraternities where older “brothers” force pledges to binge drink beer while wearing underwear etc.
I can imagine that his sort of behavior would be shameful to coyotes and to parents of coyotes but effective?
Hmmmm.
In any case, are you Team Sue the City or Team Stuff Happens?
More as the story develops.