‘Instincts kick in’: Dad describes strangling a rabid coyote that attacked his family

KENSINGTON, N.H. – A day after throttling a rabid coyote with his bare hands to protect his children, Ian O’Reilly joked that it’s almost as if his family is cloaked in some kind of meat-infused scent when they go hiking.

O’Reilly said that less than a year ago, his 4-year-old son was attacked by a rabid racoon while hiking. On Monday, he and his family again encountered a sick animal during a hike.

This time it was a “very aggressive” coyote, which interrupted the family of five’s leisurely stroll through the Phillips Exeter Academy woods on the Red Trail. O’Reilly said that after the coyote attempted to bite his youngest son, 2½, he became locked in a 10-minute struggle to kill the animal, using his legs and bare hands, and he ended up being bitten on his right forearm and chest in the process.

O’Reilly said as he and his wife, Alison, attempted to scare off the coyote by yelling at it and trying to push it away.

Animal attack: Man strangles coyote after animal attacks his child

“The animal wouldn’t stay still, and if anything, it was getting faster,” O’Reilly said. “My saving grace was I was able to kick it in the face pretty hard and then I jumped on top of his side and put it in a scissor-lock with my legs and my wife tried to stab it with a stick. Using all my body leverage, I forced its snout into the snow and was holding its mouth closed with my hands. Eventually I was able to cover its nose and I went for its windpipe with my free hand to cut off its ability to breathe.”

New Hampshire Fish and Game reported early Tuesday evening the coyote, which had also attacked a 62-year-old woman walking with her two dogs before encountering O’Reilly and his family, tested positive for rabies. Now O’Reilly and his wife must get four additional rounds of rabies boosters as they recover from their bites.

“He was very sneaky and swift in the snow, we didn’t hear him,” O’Reilly said. “My wife was holding hands with my son, and then he stumbled forward like he got run into from behind. It looked just like a German shepherd, just a different color. It took a bite out of the hood on my son’s snowsuit, but thankfully the coyote didn’t hit his head.

O’Reilly said he didn’t realize he had been bitten in the chest until it was all over with.

“You don’t have time to think in logic or reason and be scared, you just react. Instincts kick in and for people who say things slow down (during crises), they don’t, they speed way the hell up.”

O’Reilly said his 6-year-old daughter quickly corralled her two younger brothers and brought them behind a tree to separate them from the animal.

O’Reilly said after he jumped on the coyote, his wife gragged the children and led them away from the animal.

“We’ve talked with them a million times about what to do when they encounter wildlife, and they did the right thing by scattering away from the animal,” O’Reilly said. “My wife probably didn’t want to leave her husband in that moment, but the kids needed to go away to keep them safe.”

Monday’s coyote attack has brought O’Reilly viral international publicity. He said he’s been contacted by international news outlets such as the BBC World Service and was asked to be interviewed by Fox News Radio on Wednesday morning.

O’Reilly said he is not letting this latest encounter with a rabid animal sour his family’s enjoyment of the great outdoors.

“We’re due for our good karma to come back after this,” O’Reilly said.

“We still like the wilderness and the kids said they want to go out hiking again soon. You can’t plan for every scenario so you just need to be resilient and something like this shouldn’t keep anyone from going outside.”

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: NH man describes strangling rabid coyote that attacked his family