http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-talk-coyote-04-mar04,0,2773301.story

And the quote from the Coyote Rescue lady really got me:

CeAnn Lambert, who runs the Indiana Coyote Rescue Center, insists the animal posed no threat to divers.

"The coyote would have acted just like a dog," she said. "It would have clung to the person trying to save it."



Ummm...it's a wild animal, it would have bitten the crap out of any that got within reach.
Sometimes the "do-gooders" lack of common sense is amazing.

Lol..so funny. A cold, scared wild animal. I agree, it would have taken a piece out of whoever grabbed it.

We have use to have a lot up here where I live. They still sometimes walk down the street. Once, a few years ago in Feb., I was on a early morning walk in the nature area. My GSD was off leash. She started running up the pass very interested in something and I was jogging behind her. I made a turn around the bush and in the path about 15 feet in front of my dog was a male coyote standing there right on the path watching Tera, my dog, going right to him. I yelled at her to stop, which she did right away. The coyote just stood there looking at her while I put her leash on. I looked at him and he moved off the path to the left about 15 feet away. We walked pass him and he kept eyeing my dog and then once and a while looked at me. I said "It's ok guy" to the coyote in a friendly but stern voiceand kept my cool. We kept walking and I have got to tell you, that is the closest I ever want to get an coyote again. I wasn't scared for myself, but for my dog. They never come close to human's up here. I went home and searched coyotes on the internet. I found out that a coyote will mate with a female dog and they mate in Feb. Usually coyote's mate for life so I am not sure why he was so interested in my dog but I never went out that early in the morning again.

"The coyote would have acted just like a dog," she said. "It would have clung to the person trying to save it."

I know a trapper who once caught a coyote next to a river.

He handed the coyote a long branch, and of course the animal grabbed it like it was the last piece of meat he would be able to eat.

The coyote never left the branch. The trapper sank the branch in the river, and the coyote actually drowned himself chewing at it maniacally. That's "clunging" for the chick of the article.

It's not like the animal knew it was the trapper who put him in this situation or something and wanted revenge. It was trapped and simply had no way to escape, so aggression was the only alternative for him. That branch could've been the arm, leg or throat of some moron trying to help him out in belief that the coyote will be thankful just like you see in movies for children.

There is only one way you can try to save a wild animal (especially a predator) without getting turned into a T-Bone, and it's with proper equipment like dog catcher's poles or nets and/or tranquilizing shots.

Saving a coyote would be challenging!

Last May, my senior rescued mixed breed got herself pinned under our garden shed while pursuing a rodent.
I had to dig for about 5 minutes, get under the shed up to my shoulders and pull her out under the arm pits (if dogs have arm pits) she knew I was trying to help her but still bit me just before she got out as I had to struggle a bit at the end. cant imagine an animal that didnt trust humans reacting anything but wild ! ( by the way she wagged her tail furiously and smiled at me afterward as if to say sorry mom!)

Why save a coyote?

In my area at least, they're nuisance animals.

 Quote: article

"If it had been left alone to begin with, it had a shot of surviving," he said. "Once they initiated the rescue and made it worse, they should have followed through."

Yeah.
The firefighters should have risked their lives in the frigid waters, to save a coyote.

Who wants to be the one to tell the wife and children of a dead firefighter that daddy is never coming home, because of a COYOTE?

ok, well im all prepared to get jumped on for saying this
BUT:
I have to agree with what the one gentleman was saying about how the coyote probably would've been just fine had the resuce crew not hovered over it with the helicopeter. I know, I know...they had to get in close to see if it was human (im assuming thats why they were hoverin over the animal). And thats a hard way for any living thing to die. And yes, i understand that a human life is more important than a coyote's.
Now I don't agree with that lady saying the coyote would've been as docile as a dog while being rescued, i've seen a few shows where even family pets under stress in water have lashed out pretty fiercly at the person trying to rescue them. But i still feel a bit sorry for the animal having to die that way.

Let the bashing begin!!

note to everyone: we don't have a huge problem with coyotes here, a few sightings once in awhile, so I probably don't have the same opinion of them as someone who has to deal with their destruction on a daily basis.

No bashing.
I see what you're saying. You feel bad for the coyote.

So do I.

And perhaps humans did contribute to his being placed in that predicament.

Or not.

Coyotes die awful deaths in the wild, all the time.
Is it sad? Yep. Life is rough. Especially when you're a wild animal.

Think how lucky our dogs are.

We hunt them. We use electronic calls and chicken pieces parts. It's calf and lamb season here, coyotes are out in force.

DFrost

yes...i just have a soft spot for stuff like that.

i think it all started when my dad found a rat in our garage and I wouldn't let him kill it with a shovel. Im not sure how he managed it, but he boxed it somehow and let me take it down to the creek a few blocks away and release it...lol. Im sure after that he never mentioned to me if he found anything any other rodents in the garage.