A female coyote likely involved in Sunday's coyote attacks in Rye Brook was so sick with mange that she beheaded and was eating her own pup before police shot and killed her.

Rye Brook's professional trapper, Jim Horton, told Rye Patch this afternoon that he and his partner were headed into the woods to set traps when they noticed a female coyote and began following her along the fence line of the area.

The coyote then lunged at him, but only bit his sweater. Horton then hit the coyote, which flipped over, got back up and ran away.

Horton followed the coyote into the woods, where he saw it chewing on the head of one its pups, which it had presumably killed.

A Rye Brook police officer later shot and killed the female coyote in the rear yard of a home on 257 North Ridge Street. Horton said the coyote had a severe case of mange and is likely the same coyote involved in two attacks on Sunday night involving a 14-year-old boy and 2-year-old girl in Rye Brook.

Rye Brook Police plan to hold a press conference this afternoon, but said that both victims are okay after the attacks.

The incidents 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, police 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. 

Both he and his daughter were taken to Greenwich Hospital for medical treatment. Zuckerman's wound was superficial, but doctors took a DNA sample from the wound to help authorities identify the coyote involved in the attack, Zuckerman's father, Gary, told Rye Patch Monday. 

The attempted attacks happened less than a week after the village caught a coyote in Rich Manor Park on Aug. 31. The village's trapper euthanized the coyote, which had a severe case of mange.

That capture marked the third coyote 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.

Horton said the coyotes, including the one likely involved in Sunday's attacks, probably contracted the mange from one specific den site. 

He said mange also can be spread to humans. However, officials won't know until Wednesday or later if the coyote killed Monday also had rabies, Horton said.

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 Rye Brook Mayor Joan Feinstein said Monday morning that 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," Feinstein said.

She said the village's trapper was setting more traps on Monday in the neighborhoods where the attempted attacks occurred. The village has also increased police presence in the area and alerted residents via a reverse 911 call last night, which reached 450 households in the immediate vicinity of where the attacks occurred. Feinstein said the reverse 911 calls would continue Monday.

The attempted attacks in Rye Brook come more than two months after coyote attacks in nearby Rye. In June, coyotes attacked both 6-year-old Emily Hodulik and 3-year-old  Erika Attar, biting Hodulik on the thigh, shoulder and neck and Attar on the neck and torso. Both girls recovered after being treated for their injuries.

After those incidents, Rye police said they would undertake a more aggressive approach toward the coyote population, including killing any coyotes it captured. On July 31, Rye authorities did just that, killing a 40 lb. male coyote its trapper caught near North Street, not far from the location of the second coyote attack.

Rye police have issued a Nixle alert this morning notifying residents of the coyote attacks in Rye Brook.

There have been no coyote attacks in Rye since June, but police are urging residents to be cautious, especially when their children are playing outdoors. The city also will continue its trapping program, Rye police said.

"With the opening of school scheduled this week, the police department will enhance patrols in the vicinity of schools and on routes frequently used by children to travel to and from school," Rye police said. 

Though both Rye and Rye Brook are continuing their trapping programs, eradicating the coyote population is highly unlikely, so residents in both areas will have to find a way to coexist with the animals, said Horton, who is also employed as Rye City's trapper.

"They're always going to be around and we're always going to have a problem with them from time to time," he said.

Rye Brook police are encouraging residents to report any coyote sightings. Residents can call 914-937-1020 to contact police. They can also visit the village's website, ryebrook.org, for more details.