What started as a routine summer nighttime walk turned into a life-changing encounter with a coyote for a Mississauga family.

Sarah Boeko was walking with her mother, Sandra Watts, and their dog, Luna, near their home in the Mineola neighbourhood after 10 p.m. on July 18, when she said they were confronted by a coyote around Goldthorpe Road and Pinewood Trail.

Boeko, who’s a 20 year-old college student, said she wasn’t aware of the coyote until it lunged at her ankle, and she and her mother screamed “bloody murder” to scare it off.

“It was biting at my legs,” Boeko said. “I was jumping and trying to get away but still trying to scare it at the same time. We couldn't believe it. It was like a nightmare. It wouldn't go away.”

The encounter went from bad to worse when they attempted to return home and Watts tripped, breaking her wrist, among other bones, and was left “screaming in agony” on the road, according to Boeko, who also said the family is "traumatized" from the incident.

A spokesperson from Peel Paramedics confirmed that a patient was transported from the area of Goldthorpe Road and Pinewood Trail to a local hospital in stable condition around 10 p.m. on Sunday, July 18.

According to a City of Mississauga spokesperson, an incident in same area was reported, and animal services staff is doing site inspections.

“From the description of the incident, it is related to parent coyotes protecting young pups,” the spokesperson said in an email.