A rabid coyote attacked a man in Jones County. He attacked back

A rabid coyote bit a man, who then stabbed the animal to death, in a Jones County forest.

Nate Edmonds, an attorney for Geico in Macon, returned to work Monday for the first time since the harrowing attack.

Edmonds had gone to the Hitchiti Experimental Forest May 26 to meet a friend to go hiking. He was there early, so he hiked a short distance into the woods while he waited.

As he was returning, a coyote crossed onto the trail in front of him and stood there staring at him.

"I knew this was not typical behavior for a coyote," he said.

He tried to clap and yell to scare it away, but it had no impact. He then tried to go around it, giving it a wide berth, and the coyote came at him.

It first latched onto his boot, and he fell backwards. The coyote then let go and reattached further up his leg, breaking skin this time through his jeans. Edmonds managed to pin it between his legs and then used his knife to stab it between the shoulder blades, killing it.

Jones County Animal Control sent the coyote's head to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to be tested for rabies, but Edmonds couldn't wait that long.

Rabies is fatal once it advances, so he had to immediately begin a series of four shots at the Medical Center, Navicent Health, in Macon.

The shots happen on the first, third, seventh and 14th day after the bite. Before Edmonds could get to his second shot, he had a bad reaction to the vaccine. His kidneys began to shut down. He was dehydrated and vomiting.

He was admitted to the hospital, but the shots had to go forward. The second shot was not as bad, and his condition began to improve. He was released from the hospital and returned Saturday for the third shot. On June 9, he has to return for his last shot.

Michael Hokanson, public information officer for the North Central Health District, told The Telegraph Monday that the coyote tested positive for rabies. He said it's the fourth confirmed rabies case this year in the 13-county district.

The frightening incident has not deterred Edmonds's love for the outdoors, and he said he will return to the same forest to hike. He did urge people to have some means of protecting themselves if they decide to venture into a forest.

"People need to be prepared, but people don’t need to be afraid," he said. "I’ve been in the woods my entire life — hunting and fishing and hiking and exploring — and this is the first time anything like this has remotely ever happened."

This story was originally published June 4, 2018 at 2:56 PM with the headline "A rabid coyote attacked a man in Jones County. He attacked back."