I was driving to work this morning preparing my mind and body for the day when I spotted a coyote jogging down the median. I wanted to pull over on the side of the interstate and start a conversation with him or just watch him. He must have been involved in his morning workout routine or maybe he was just coming in from a long night of hunting because he looked exhausted so I thought better of interrupting. Not too long ago I saw a coyote in the same spot sunbathing around lunch time. Beside the coyote was a sign that read “Honk if you think I’m hot”. It broke my heart to know that coyote was evicted from his forest home and now has to live by the busy highway. Of course, the coyote may enjoy the buzz of highway traffic and just maybe considers playing chicken with oncoming traffic an extracurricular activity.

I believe the coyote is to this part of the country as the hyena is to the African savannahs – a scavenger and thief. However, I do have a soft spot in my heart for all animals including the would be John Gotti and Ozzie & Harriet’s of the carnivore world. After all it is their genetic make-up that drives them to participate in their sneaky behavior. Maybe if I were the Road Runner I might not feel the same for the coyote. I wonder what Mother Nature thinks of all the greedy, over builders that drives her animals from their natural habitats and forces them to live among the very people who caused them to flee their homeland? Come to think of it, I think that coyote had an Acme box under his arm.