Yesterday in Kensginton, New Hampshire, Ian O'Reilly and his family were walking on a trail near a local pond when a coyote attacked his two-year-old son. After fighting with the animal for ten minutes, O'Reilly strangled it. According to police, the same coyote, likely sick, was responsible for other attacks earlier that day that apparently didn't result in injury. O'Reilly described the confrontation to Boston 25 News:
"There was no interest in (the coyote) going away. [I] ultimately had to make the decision to become the aggressor and jumped on it, attacked it and [got] it to the ground," O'Reilly said. "When I was able to get on top of it, I put my hand on its snout so it wasn't able to attack me. There was quite a bit of snow on the ground, so I shoved the face into the snow and then eventually was able [to] put my hand on its snout and expire it through suffocation. Ultimately one hand on its windpipe and one hand on its snout did the trick."
O'Reilly was apparently bitten in the arm and chest by the coyote. The child involved was also bitten, though the animal did not break the child's skin due to the snowsuit he was wearing at the time. Since the incident, O'Reilly has already received his first round of rabies shots; he'll have four more follow-up visits with doctors for more.
