After Attack on Son, Dad Kills Coyote With His Bare Hands

A New Hampshire father took his family for a hike on Monday and ended up killing an apparently rabid coyote with his bare hands. Police say Ian O'Reilly went into "protection mode and suffocated the coyote until it succumbed" after the animal attacked his 2-year-old son on a trail in Exeter, ABC News reports. The same animal is believed to have attacked a vehicle earlier in the day before biting a woman and her dogs in nearby Kensington. O'Reilly says he had no choice but to fight the aggressive animal after it grabbed his son by the jacket and pulled him to the ground. "It's really just instinct," he tells WMUR. "The fact that when we tried to kick and push and get rid of him, it became clear that he was not disengaging."

"There was no running away, it would not allow us to run away," O'Reilly tells CBS Boston. "It was very much the aggressor." He was bitten on the chest and forearm during the struggle while his wife called 911 and protected their three children. "I did kick him square in the jaw once that put him to the ground and I was able to jump on him after that," says O'Reilly, who didn't wait for the dead animal to be tested before starting rabies shots. The 2-year-old wasn't bitten. The same son was bitten by a rabid raccoon in the family's backyard a year ago, but the experiences "won’t stop us from going outside," O'Reilly says. (More coyote stories.)