Real Drama: Who lives, who dies?

It was 7:23 a.m.

Ernie started this adventure with has amazing eyesight.

Looking through the Shack’s glass doors he became transfixed: he was focused on something outback.

I couldn’t confirm the source of his alarum. Frustrated being inside the Ern squealed and ran to the side door for a better peek.

There, circling the neighbor’s goat family, was a coyote!

Just days before Mama goat gave birth to twins: one is pure white and the other is the mother’s light brown. Each appeared to be a scrawny five pounds. What a nice snatched breakfast one or more would make for a famished predator.

The back and forth between the lone coyote and family of five had already begun. Camera in hand I was taking pictures.

I expected that the “…..Built Ram Tough…..” father would intervene to vanquish the opposing animal; surely the muscular ram’s sharp horns would do the job.

Well, he quickly wimped out. He could only muster two gutless, forward-looking stares [one pictured above] before turning and meandering from the potential battlefield. [Maybe he had a hot date?] His full-grown son must have been genetically predisposed: he also eventually walked off.

That left the mother of the twins, and her sister with a four-month old who didn’t appear to be a target, to carry the fight.

Charging forward in short bursts – with the young ‘ins tucked under – the siblings were focused on kid protection. The aggressor moved back at each advance.

The slinky predator was put off but not out. It appeared that with his determination he could make a quick end-around, snatch-and-run.

It was then that a human put down his camera and intervened.

As a concession to my daughter – a committed animal rescuer – I waved arms and yelled at the would-be killer to try and scare him off. All he did was stare and continue a poacher’s deadly intent. Had I grown up with hunting I am sure I would have shot him dead; but I didn’t.

The other alternative was to go inside and get a firearm to scare him off. I did, but was it okay to shoot at something on a neighbor’s property without permission?

Quickly calling a friend who lives nearby, we decided that under the circumstances – potentially saving the two little ones – the neighbor might even thank me.

I then waited for another push-back from the Mom’s before I fired the first clear shot. That got the coyote’s attention. It took another two or three rounds to get him running past the property’s end and out of sight.

At the end of the day I visited with my neighbor and recounted the morning’s incident. I was told that I could have killed the animal and left it for the buzzards to dispose of naturally. Over the years coyotes have killed their chickens and guinea hens, and still do to this day.

I appreciated the reminder that nature can be instinctively brutal and unforgiving. And only human beings can implement imperfect alternatives.