A North Carolina man has recalled the terrifying moment a coyote suddenly “jumped” him — saying he only survived by managing to choke it for 10 minutes until it finally died.
James Pulliam said he was having a smoke outside of his home in Roxboro late Friday when he suddenly felt like something was “watching him.”
“I just felt like he was hunting me or something,” Pulliam told The News and Observer.
Moments later, a coyote emerged from the woods and charged at him.
“He jumped on me and I caught him in the air, he was biting me, and so when I threw him down and I’m trying to slide out of the way, he just kept coming,” he said.
Pulliam tripped and fell while trying to kick the coyote away, saying he felt like he was fighting for his life. In the panic, he grabbed the biting animal by the throat and held on.
“I had to rip my left hand out of his mouth, and when I got my left hand out, I just choked him all the way till the police got there,” he said.
He strangled the coyote for 10 minutes to make sure it was dead, he said.
“I was afraid, don’t get me wrong, but it’s either me or him,” Pulliam said.
He was hospitalized with bite wounds to his left hand. He was also given rabies shots, which he said “hurt worse than the attack.”
The dead coyote is being tested for the disease by the Person County Animal Services.
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