The Rest of the Story

 

It took some time to finally piece together the details but as Paul Harvey would might say, here is the rest of the story, or more precisely the beginning of the story of the coyote that came to school.

The initial phone call came a bit by surprise and the details soon followed about a coyote in the multi purpose art room.

The coyote was of course quickly shot and then the wondering began.

  What was it doing there?  Speculation ran from somebody throwing it through the window as a prank (I don’t know how a person might get a hold of a coyote) to it was looking for a warm place to go, or even was it somebody’s pet.

 I didn’t have any hesitation  about the initial decision to shoot it.  Kids were arriving and a cornered possibly sick coyote were foremost in my thoughts.  Coyotes attack people every year, mostly small children in places where mostly they aren’t hunted and thus have no fear of man.  Since the school yard would shortly be full of small children, immediate action was required.

So, I like others speculated   what a coyote would be doing in town.  There is lots of food for a predator like a coyote to eat.  Have you ever noticed that a dead squirrel killed on the road typically disappears fairly soon?  Certainly coon and skunks make there home amongst us.  So, it certainly should be in the realm of possibility that a coyote might be living in town quietly and comfortably making a living on dog food dishes and the occasional road kill.

 When my aunt heard the story, she quickly relayed a story about coyotes killing her neighbors little dog (in an Ohio small town).   

 Later, I asked Randy (custodian) if he had thought to look for tracks, and he had.   The coyote tracks ran right down the fence (which is perpendicular to the school window and wall) and appeared like the coyote ran straight at the window at a dead run.  No man tracks and thus conspiracy was ruled out.

I lady in town was also forthcoming about seeing a coyote run down the street towards the school on the previous Saturday morning (The coyote was found on Monday morning if you recall). 

But to get to the rest of the story, a coyote hunter was in the office the other day to have me sign off on the coyote bounty forms.  He talked about hunting coyotes that fateful Saturday.  His group had scared up a pair of coyotes in the morning and shot a female.  The male mostly outran the group and they stopped the chase as the coyote headed into town and ran through the airport.

 Well, that just seemed to tie up the loose ends as to what was going on.  The coyote was chased into town, ran down the right (or wrong) street and into the school yard.  Seeing perhaps the reflection of snow in the window, must have headed straight towards it, crashing right through.

 Perhaps the impact with the window may have damaged its brain a bit, or it simply liked the nice warm place.  Certainly an animal as smart as a coyote should have had no trouble finding its way back out. 

 Its body was sound and its legs were in fine condition.  I didn’t go so far as to poke into its head.  Since it just sat there where almost any other wild animal might have gone berserk with the effort to escape, I would hold with the idea that it had some brain damage.

So, another question might arise about just how many coyotes are around the county.  The tally for three groups that do some coyote hunting quickly produced at least 40 coyotes killed this winter.  If you add in the inevitable extra coyote hunters and trappers, there are a lot of coyotes killed each year in the county.  Certainly the population is well over 1 per square mile.

Coyotes can of course be a beneficial part of the environment as they eat a great deal of pest animals.  They also are fond of livestock.  I recall a local horse breeder loosing a prize colt in the last year or two.

In places where coyotes are not hunted, they quickly loose their fear of man and a simple internet search will turn up relevant stories.