Rutland man relives backyard battle with 'monster coyote'

RUTLAND, Mass. — A Rutland man believes an “old technique” from his wrestling days in high school and a knife allowed him to turn the tables on a coyote in his backyard.

It happened on Wednesday night around 8:30 p.m. on Glenwood Road.

Brian Hutchins had just ventured out his back door to corral his chickens into their coop.

That’s when he said “the monster coyote”, as he describes it, pounced on him.

"I knew it was an animal, but I didn't know what," said Hutchins. "I did wrestling in high school and that had something to do with it - I grabbed it by the back of the neck and flung it over. It landed here, it was growling at me and I just kept stabbing him."

Hutchins said he always takes his chicken in before sundown because of the coyotes he’s seen in his yard before.

This time, however, he had woken up from a nap and had to take care of his chickens in the dark. The 49-year-old believes it would’ve turned out differently if he didn’t have his knife in his pocket.

"It wanted to kill me and I'm like 'no, that's not happening,'” he said.

As the wounded animal retreated into the woods, Hutchins was able to get a better look. He describes it as the biggest coyote he's ever seen.

"It must've been crouched down because I've never seen it [that big]," said Hutchins. "It was 70 [or] 80 pounds, it was vicious."

At that point, Hutchins also saw two other coyotes lurking nearby.

"I must've really injured that one that took off because they took off too," said Hutchins.

Hutchins sustained scratches on his face and neck, and his coat got torn up, but he believes he turned out victorious.

"I was just frantic, I'm still shaking even talking about it," said Hutchins. "I'm not normally afraid of anything, but that really scared the hell out of me."

However, wildlife experts believe the coyote wasn't preying on Hutchins, but rather on his chickens.

They also add that the coyote may have been spooked by Hutchins when he opened his back door.

Coyote sightings in the area are fairly common. While there have been reports of attacks on pets and other animals, attacks on humans are extremely rare.

Wildlife experts said this is the 10th documented case of a coyote attack on a person in Massachusetts in the last decade.

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