Wiley Doesn’t Look So Good

We hadn’t seen Wiley in a while, but didn’t think too much of it. Coyotes are roamers, after all.

Then last night as I was taking Jessie out into the front yard, I had two different drivers honk, pull over, and warn me that there was a coyote up the street. Where others were grabbing their dogs and running for home (literally), I went for the camera. (Duh!)

I spotted him down the side street. So did Jessie. Jessie was nervous. I crossed the street to first of all get a little bit closer so I could get a good picture, and secondly, to spook Wiley away from Jessie.

In our past encounters, any movement toward him would send him scurrying. This time, he instead responded by trotting down the sidewalk straight at me. He was looking right at me so it wasn’t like he didn’t see me there. He wasn’t aggressive or snarling, but he was definitely not scooting away.

When he got about twenty feet away and I took two steps toward him, then he ran across to the other side of the street. He’s still not paying attention to me — he’s looking at Jessie, across the street and behind me to my right. I was making sure that if he took off in Jessie’s direction that I would be right on his tail. (Not that I could ever catch him, mind you, I’m not that delusional.)

In the picture above and this one you can also clearly see what I saw four or five weeks ago when we last saw him in our yard. Not only is he scrawny and skinny (are there any fat coyotes?) but he looks like hell. He’s got big patches of bare skin on his back and legs.

On his front right chest, right above the leg, you can see what appears to be a big scab or wound, still raw and bloody. His mangy appearance, his aggressiveness just in being out in the open during the day in a residential area, and his increasingly bold behavior make me wonder just how healthy he is. I’m betting his rabies shots aren’t current.

He never made a move toward Jessie, just turned and went down the street. Two houses down there’s a little yapper rat dog that sits at the gate and sounds off at everything that passes. The yapper was going nuts with Wiley out there, which may or may not have been its smartest move.

Shortly after this I ran into a lady with her kids and three small dogs, heading in this direction. I warned them about Wiley, they didn’t seem too worried. Then about halfway down this block, the saw something and backed up quick. Then they grabbed the three small dogs and ran like hell for their house. I ran down just to make sure they were okay, but never saw Wiley again and they were in the house by the time I got to their driveway.

But their neighbor did have this honkin’ big lizard just hanging on the stucco. The lizard has nothing to do with Wiley, I just figured as long as I was sharing critter pictures from the evening, I could throw this one into the mix.

For the record, tonight we didn’t see Wiley at all — but when I tried to take Jessie out about sunset, she stood in the door, sniffed, then had to be dragged outside. After she had peed she sprinted to the front door and sat there waiting for me.

I’m thinking Wiley may still be in the neighborhood.