Watch: Florida Man Fights Off Coyote With Coffee Cup

A Florida man was out for a walk with his dog when an aggressive coyote attacked them, forcing the man to use his coffee cup to fight the animal.

Ben Pool and his dog were walking in Lake County, Florida, on Feb. 15 when they encountered a coyote. The animal confronted the dog and, according to Pool, they were “fixing to go at it.” Calling the animal unlike any he’d ever seen, Pool told Orlando-based WESH TV that when he made a noise, the animal got even more aggressive.

Pool managed to get the dog and the coyote apart but it attacked him.

“He came at my legs, first, I smashed him in the side of the head with the cup. He came at me again, I smashed him again and, then he jumped up at my face, when he did that I jumped back, smacked him in the side of the head, he screamed and went down,” Pool said recounting the incident.

Before the coyote could get up, Pool and his dog made their way up the street and back to their house. However, the coyote was unrelenting and followed them to the house.

In desperation, Pool got his gun and climbed in his truck. He planned to shoot it from the window since he didn’t want to get out and face the animal again. When he shot at the coyote, it jumped at the window of his truck. “I rolled the window down, went three or four times at it, and finally I ran over it. No regrets, none. I’d do it again in a heartbeat,” he said.

The dog got several frequent checkups to make sure it didn't contract rabies while Pool was recuperating in a hospital.

Pool said, while he heard about coyotes on a regular basis, this was the first time he encountered one.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission urged dog owners to walk their pets on a short leash and keep them in enclosed spaces to avoid encounters with coyotes. Meanwhile, the state wildlife officers said Pool will not face any charges for killing the animal.

Pool, who feels the coyote population is growing, said he fears it’s going to get worse and wants support from state and local officials in the matter.

“If I would have been bitten, everyone would have been here in a heartbeat doing something. But since I wasn’t bitten, nobody was going to come and do anything,” he said.