Rabid coyote killed in Laurel Fork

By WAYNE QUESENBERRY/Staff

A coyote that attacked a Bland County man last week has tested positive for rabies. The animal put its paws on the Laurel Fork resident but did not bite or scratch him.
“It was the first positive coyote for Bland County (this year),” noted Cecil Sink, environmental health specialist senior with the Bland County Health Department. “This has been a pretty big year for rabies in our health district but this was the first case in Bland County.”
The attack occurred before dark last Wednesday evening outside of Danny L. Kinder’s garage on Laurel Fork Road. Kinder and some of his relatives were talking with Brian Akers, who lives nearby.
“My wife said ‘whose dog is that?’” Kinder recalled. “My son turned around and the animal made a lunge at him. It put its paws on him but he raised his arms.”
Akers added, “When I saw it, I knew it was a coyote.”
The animal made its way from the garage to a nearby pen where Kinder keeps his dogs. Its presence caused the dogs to start barking.
As Kinder went for his pistol, Akers jumped on a 4-wheeler and chased the coyote with intentions of running over it. He changed his mind when the coyote turned on him.
By this time, Kinder was approaching on foot with a .45 Colt pistol. He passed the weapon to Akers who pursued the animal until he was close enough to shoot it.
“I felt like there was something wrong with it,” Akers stated earlier this week. “I’ve been in the timber business a long time and I see a lot of animals in the woods. They usually run from people.”
Kinder said, “We’ve been hearing coyotes in the woods behind the shop. I heard that one of my neighbor’s dogs was attacked the night before by an older coyote and a younger one. The one Brian killed was a pup. It weighed about 15 pounds.”
Akers wrapped the dead animal in a trash bag and took it to the state lab in Wytheville last Thursday morning. He was notified later in the week the coyote had rabies.
“What worries me is that coyotes run in packs,” Akers said. “They eat together from the same kill. There’s more of them with rabies. I guarantee that.”
“There are a lot of coyotes throughout the Virginia Highlands and even in the Piedmont area,” Sink said. “You’ll find them anywhere they have food and a habitat. There are a lot of deer and cattle and sheep farms in Bland County for them to feed on. They eat the dead animals that farmers drag into the woods and they prey on the young animals.”
He pointed out rabies “runs in waves.” The deadly disease, Sink said, wipes out part of the animal population in cycles.
According to Sink, the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries has implemented a program of air-dropping food containing oral vaccine for rabies into areas populated with wild animals. The department has not tried the procedure in Bland County yet.
“Rabies is more prevalent in raccoons and skunks,” stated Ed Ritterbusch, environmental health supervisor for the health departments in Bland, Wythe, Carroll and Grayson counties and the city of Galax. “You find it sometimes in foxes, too.”
He advises anyone bitten by an animal suspected of rabies to wash the wound thoroughly with soap and water. Seek immediate medical attention, Ritterbusch said.
“We can’t emphasize enough the importance of vaccinating domestic animals – dogs and cats,” he added.
In the meantime, Kinder plans to be more cautious. He is concerned for the safety of his grandchildren and other children in the community.
“I’m keeping a loaded gun at the shop and in the house, too,” Kinder said.
Wayne Quesenberry can be reached at 1-800-655-1406 or .