By K.C. MYERS STAFF WRITER FORESTDALE - A coyote that had apparently been prowling neighborhoods around the Otis Air National Guard Base for the past two weeks attacked a 3-year-old boy last night and was shot soonafter by police. The child, whose name was not released, was playing on a swing set in his backyard when the attack occurred, said Sandwich Sgt. Daniel O'Connell. The boy was taken to Falmouth Hospital then moved to Children's Hospital in Boston. O'Connell said he saw puncture wounds from the animal's teeth, and scratches, but the injuries did not appear serious. This is the first documented case of a coyote attack on a human in Massachusetts, said Peter Trull, a coyote researcher who is educational director at the Center for Coastal Studies in Provincetown. The police arrived only two minutes after receiving a call from a frantic mother at 58 Greenville Drive. O'Connell said he and another police officer saw the animal near the house and the other officer shot it four times. "I was dealing with the mother, and I heard the shots," O'Connell said. The mother told the police she had to force the animal off her son and was able to drive the coyote away, but only temporarily. "It sounds like it just hung around," O'Connell said. The carcass of the female coyote was taken to a laboratory in Boston for rabies tests. No cases of rabies have been reported on Cape Cod, but coyotes are susceptible to the disease. Coyotes have been common to every town on the Cape since the 1980s but rarely attack humans. As of 1995 there were nine cases of coyotes attacking children and five cases of attacks on adults nationwide, state wildlife official Tom Decker told the Times that year. The Sandwich police hope the coyote they shot last night is the animal that has been seen close to homes in Forestdale for the past two weeks. O'Connell said about 12 reports have been received. Callers from several subdivisions around the base complained a coyote was coming into their yards. O'Connell said all calls are within a three-mile radius. The police had one report of a child in Forestdale scratched by a coyote. Based on these calls, the police had determined earlier this week that one coyote was being unusually aggressive. On Monday the police decided to find and destroy the animal, O'Connell said. Last night, an anonymous caller reported to the Cape Cod Times that she had chased a coyote away at 8 a.m. yesterday on Snake Pond Road. Around 6 p.m., the police received three calls from residents of Dogwood Drive in Forestdale. So O'Connell had all five police officers on duty "saturate" the area looking for the animal. The police were close when they got the call from Greenville Drive. "My heart goes out to the poor kid," O'Connell said. "We were just a minute too late." The first active coyote den on Cape Cod was discovered at the Otis Air National Guard Base in 1985, Trull said. They have spread throughout the Cape, killing cats, but not harming people. Animal Rights Activists Decry Killing of Coyote Litter

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