Saturday, August 24, 2024

Coyote

I saw a most magnificent thing yesterday, but I am afraid for the little feral cat.  As I was driving home from the grocery store, just as I was to turn onto my street, a coyote came bolting out of the City Gardens and across the road into my neighborhood.  I turned dangerously in front of an oncoming car to follow it.  He ran down the street before me.  "Ran" is less than accurate.  It didn't run like a dog, that's for certain.  It was more like a cheetah as it streaked through yards looking every which way, cutting and weaving, looking to scare up, I presume, some small animal that might be in hiding.  It had better lateral movement than any dog I have ever seen, and it bounced and never settled.  I followed it for two blocks before it cut into a jungle-like yard just three houses down from my own. 

It looked dangerous.  

A small animal wouldn't have a chance against its speed.  I'm sure its goal was to surprise a rabbit or other  small animal and scare it into movement, then. . . boom!  

Maybe it has been around before.  Maybe that is why the little feral acts so freaky.  She's a wild animal, but that coyote was something else.  If I came upon it on a walk, I would be fearful.  They don't attack humans, but this one was big enough that it could.  And it could be rabid.  There are rabies among the raccoons around here.  Now I don't know if a coyote would be willing to go after a raccoon.  I know raccoons can tear a dog up pretty badly.  But a coyote might eat a rabid raccoon that had died.  I don't know if. . . .

I'm going to go check.  

Yup to both.  Coyotes feed mainly on mice, voles, and rabbits, but it could eat a raccoon, especially a young one.  And yes, it is possible to get rabies by eating a dead rabid animal.  Coyotes, I just read, eat possums and armadillos, too.  So this neighborhood--especially my yard--is a smorgasbord for coyotes.  

Yea. . . I am worried about the cat.  I haven't seen her since I saw the coyote.  I'll be anxious to see her sometime soon.  I worry about the neighbor's cat, too.  He likes to wander the properties like a badass.  

I stayed home last night and cooked my first meal this week.  Home on a Friday night.  In bed by ten.  I dreamed, but nothing crazy.  Well. . . a little. . . as I think about it.  But not in technicolor.  

How should I spend a Saturday?  I will go now and think on that.  I'd like to come up with at least one good thing.  

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