This piece just came into my basement this week. But it’s so awesome I felt I had to write about it, rather than choose something that’s been around for years. Unbelievably, I found this coyote listed on craigslist! A taxidermist out in the country (I live in town) (small town) has mounted this for a customer and then the customer never showed up to collect it. The taxidermist sent repeated mailings to this person letting them know that it would be sold if they did not pick it up. So at last it went up for sale on craigslist. (I won’t tell the exact price, but I’ll say three figures, not two.
I didn’t buy this because I feel a need for more junk in my basement. Despite all the discouragements and unbelievable odds against me, I still cling to a hope that someday I will be able to realize my dream of having a small science/nature center. I build small exhibits and show them at several outdoor venues during the summer. My biggest one of the year is coming up in July and I want a few new things that haven’t been there previous years. I also want to look as much like a “real” nature center as possible, and nothing says, “I run a real nature center,” like a stuff coyote! I had a feeling that someday I would kick myself if I didn't take the gamble and go ahead and get this coyote.
This is a male eastern Coyote, and was “harvested” in Pennsylvania during the winter. It has its rough winter coat. In PA, coyotes can be hunted during certain seasons, so it was taken legally. Coyotes are nocturnal, so even though I’ve almost certainly got some living within two miles or less from my house, I’ve never seen one. Few people I know have ever seen one in the wild (or at all if they don’t go to zoos) so I think it’s really neat to have a real one, even a stuffed one, that people can get up close to. This guy is really beautiful. He can help people appreciate wildlife in way that they could not otherwise do.
Where to keep him when I’m done exhibiting him? Yikes, I think I’ll have to clean and reorganize!
He is beautiful. Here in Ontario, Canada, we do have the benefit of seeing them quite regularly, especially as they expand communities by tearing down the woods. The Coyotes are now in our communities because their homes have been taken away. Very Sad. Most of the ones we have seen, don't look even closely as healthy as this guy you have shown here does.
ReplyDeleteHere in AZ, we see them often but never with their winter coats. What a beauty he is! btw, I love your website! It's getting me inspired for the rest of our school year. :-)
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