I was driving into work on Friday morning. I'm feeling great despite it being 5:30am... I got my medium d/d from Tim's, old Van Halen is cranking on the radio, and well it is Friday. I am minutes from my work, cutting through an industrial area to my work. There are some open areas, which sadly will be built upon in the coming years (Hurontario and Britannia). I notice in one of the "fields" that there is a dog like looking creature curled up, mere feet from the road. I stopped the car to have a look. About 200 ft away is maybe a dozen Canada Geese all looking at this animal as well. So, yes, it was a Coyote. Once it realized I was watching her, she got up and tried to get away from me... though I never left the car, nor pulled the car up to her. I could see one of her front legs was injured. She hobbled for a bit, then lay down again. I don't know how bad she was hurt but maybe it was pretty bad since the Geese weren't freaking out over her.
I called 9-1-1 and spoke with an operator who told me to call Mississauga Animal Control. I did just that, it took almost a minute of listening to various messages and directions before I got to speak live with someone. Unfortunately the person on the other end of the line was a bit of an idiot. I don't think she really knew what a Coyote was. I think she was even reading from like a text book or something... very standard general questions. I was certain of this when she asked me if I could contain it for them... upon which they would come to me in about 90 minutes. I asked her how would a person go about grabbing a Coyote and holding it for any amount of time, never mind 90 minutes. She didn't have an answer for me.
End result was that someone would come and scope the area for the Coyote around 7am. I mentioned to her there is a parking lot here, office buildings and the place would be full of traffic before then. She thanked me for my phone call, took my name, home address and phone number and that was it.
I was disappointed with the outcome or lack of one. I'd think a Coyote in such an area would be an urgent matter. An injured animal is what they deal with and this person was so nonchalant about the whole matter. A friend tells me they are under-paid, under staffed, etc. which is sad.
I was not upset by the presence of the Coyote. I do feel more sorry for them as more and more land is torn up for development. This is not the first Coyote I have seen in this area... but it is the first injured one.
I just have a hard time sitting back while any animal is in such a bad situation... and having hope/trust in our services to deal with the situation promptly, both for the animal's sake and anybody who is going to come into contact with it, only to be left feeling like the idiot for reporting this.
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Rob'in'To »
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