Coyote That Attacked a 2-Year-Old in NH Confirmed to Have Rabies

The coyote saga continues for Ian O’Reilly.

A day after killing a coyote with his bare hands to protect his family, The New Hampshire Fish and Game is now reporting that the coyote has tested positive for rabies.

The incident took place while hiking through the Phillips Exeter Academy woods on the Red Trail in Kensington.

Fosters.com is reporting that O’Reilly and his family must now all get four rounds of rabies boosters. O’Reilly said that while the coyote didn’t break skin on his 2-year-old son, O’Reilly himself was bitten in the chest.

O’Reilly spoke to media yesterday and said the story has gone viral.

According to Fosters.com, O’Reilly has been contacted by international news outlets including Fox News.

O’Reilly said that he and his wife have talked to their kids about what to do when encountering wildlife and they did the right thing by running away, the news article stated.

So will this scary incident stop the family from enjoying the great outdoors?

O’Reilly says no.

He told Fosters.com that they’ve had some bad “juju” but they still love the wilderness and plan to continue hiking.  He said “you can’t plan for every scenario so you need to be resilient and something like this should not keep you from going outside."