Another Cute Cuddly Coyote Story

Kudos to this heroic grandfather, whose quick thinking, and physical strength, saved his grandson from a coyote attack yesterday. I cant help but think, "Gee, a gun might have come in handy there." Think of how much more effectively this child's life could have been protected and the threst eliminated.

Oh wait, gun control is "FOR the children^TM". I keep forgetting.

Man saves grandson from coyote

NORTHBOROUGH -- A grandfather hiking a trail by the Assabet River with his 4-year-old grandson was attacked yesterday by a coyote, but saved the youngster by grappling with the animal as it continued to bite him.

Arthur Cole, 76, was attacked at 4:30 p.m. by a 40-pound gray coyote, according to police. He was bitten several times but his injuries were not life-threatening.

His grandson, Nicholas, escaped unhurt and ran the half-mile to his grandparents' house in the Birchwood Community housing development to get help, according to his uncle, Dave Cole.

When Arthur's wife, Barbara, and Nicholas' dad, 44-year-old Peter Cole, asked, "Where's Grampy?" the youngster replied, "A wolf got him," Dave Cole said.

Peter Cole, who was visiting his parents, jumped into his truck, drove to the development's community center and ran down the trail. "I was yelling for my father. He yelled to me, and he was lying on top of the coyote," Peter said. "I tried to kill it, but there was nothing I could really do."

Peter called 911 on his cell phone and police and firefighters arrived.

"We got there and found the guy on top of the animal," firefighter Jamie Desautels said. "The guy basically saved his grandson."

Firefighters used a snare to restrain the female coyote, which continued to bite Cole, Desautels said. "He stayed pretty calm. He did well," he said of the victim.

Police then killed the coyote. "We basically choked the animal to death," Police Sgt. James Bruce said.

[snip]

He said the cause of the attack is undetermined, but it was unprovoked. The female coyote may have been protecting her pups, he said.

Or, maybe, it had something to do with the fact that coyotes are wild, predatory carnivores.

He cautioned residents to be aware and alert while walking near woods. Police don't know if there are other coyotes in the area, he said.

Um...I'm thinking of another five-letter word that starts with "a".

Mr. Cole and the responding officers, apparently, have never read the "Living With Wildlife" brochure that state wildlife officials are distributing to people concerned with predatory animals in their neighborhoods. From the Patriot Ledger (06/14/05):

QUINCY - They've been spotted yipping through Squantum and eating kittens at Marina Bay.

But when chickens started disappearing from a neighbor's coop, Anne Haigh hadn't considered coyotes were the culprit.

That is until she saw a furry wanderer walking through the beach in her Germantown back yard.

It was a wild wake-up call for Haigh when she and her husband spotted what she called an easily recognizable coyote about 100 feet from her Prescott Terrace home on a recent Saturday morning. The situation became even wilder when she learned that almost nothing could be done to contain or trap the omnivore.

"This is an honest safety issue and not just for our animals," Haigh said.

Quincy's animal control officer responded to Haigh's call quickly, she said. He handed her a "living with wildlife" brochure. And, as he told her, "his hands were tied."

So, shame on everyone involved in this horrific tale of animal injustice. This was nothing more than the blatant violation of that innocent coyote's Constitutional right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of appetizers.

UPDATE: OK, this is friggin' sad.

A person (and I use that term loosely) just called in to John Depetro's show on WRKO, and expressed the exact sentiment described in my last paragraph there - MINUS THE SARCASM. Yikes.

The next caller on told him to "go back to Cambridge!" To which Captain Compassionate replied, "Go back to the woods...you redneck!"

I've said it before. "Unhinged" doesn't even begin to describe a lot of the folks 'round here.

UPDATE: "Paul from Weymouth" is back on the air. What a friggin' moron!!! God, I wish I was taping this.

I'm going way out on a limb here and guessing that "Paul from Weymouth" doesn't have any kids.