Police: Dad strangles coyote to defend family under attack

EXETER, N.H. (AP) — A coyote attacked a pair dogs, bit a woman and skirmished with a vehicle before being killed by a father defending his family on a walk Monday, police said.

The same coyote is likely connected to three attacks that happened relatively close together and throughout the course of an hour, Kensington Police Chief Scott Cain said Monday.

Police say they believe the coyote attacked a vehicle on a roadway in Hampton Falls, New Hampshire, bit a 62-year-old woman and her dogs on a porch in Kensington and then attacked a family walking on a trial in Exeter.

Law enforcement officials were searching for the coyote when they got word that it had been killed.

“The coyote came out of the woods and grabbed a child by the jacket. The dad when into protection mode and strangled the coyote,” Cain said.

New Hampshire Fish and Game collected the coyote and will test it for rabies. The victims were being treated for rabies as a precaution.