Coyote Killed in Nearby Rye Brook Had Rabies

A coyote killed by police on Monday that was likely involved in two attacks in Rye Brook had rabies, police said.

The Westchester County Health Department told Rye Brook police on Wednesday that the animal was rabid. The condition, a viral infection transmitted by the bite of an infected animal, likely caused the coyote to display aggressive behavior towards humans, police said. 

The coyote—which police believe attacked a 14-year-old boy and 2-year-old girl and her father on Sunday—also beheaded its own pup, lunged at a trapper and a police officer before being shot by an officer Monday morning on North Ridge Street.

The attacks on the teenager and toddler occurred within one hour of each other at two separate locations in the village.

The first incident happened at 6:50 p.m. Sunday. A 14-year-old boy, Eric Mandel, was playing on Eagles Bluff with other children at a neighbor's barbecue when a coyote lunged at him.

Mandel hit the coyote in the face and it ran off into the woods. He was not injured, but he did suffer a small abrasion on his hand, his mother, Susan Mandel, said.

About an hour later, a coyote lunged at a 2-year-old girl on Hillandale Road while she was playing in the driveway of her grandfather's home with her father, 28-year-old Jared Zuckerman.

The coyote bit Zuckerman on the back of his upper thigh as he curled his daughter under him to protect her from the animal. 

All three victims were treated at Greenwich Hospital and given rabies shots. 

The coyote, which also had a severe case of mange, was the third such animal killed in the village in recent weeks. The first coyote was caught with a catch pole near Ridge Street on Aug. 15, while another was struck and killed by a vehicle on King Street on Aug. 28. All three had advanced stages of mange and were removed by the village's trapper.

Rye Brook began a coyote trapping and hazing program on Aug. 6. The program involved not only trapping coyotes but also encouraging residents to engage in certain behaviors that would reinstitute coyotes' natural fear of humans.

The program was scheduled to end on Sept. 10, but the village will continue its trapping program because of the recent incidents.

"Not only are we going to extend the trapping, we are going to increase the number of traps," Rye Brook Mayor Joan Feinstein told Patch on Monday.

The county health department will perform DNA tests on samples retrieved from the victims to determine whether the coyote killed Monday was in fact responsible for the attacks. Those tests could take several days.

Rye Brook police are urging residents to contact them at (914) 937-1020 to report coyote sightings and any physical contact with these animals.