Resilience and Hope in a Coyote I Have Named Resilient

When I first saw her my heart broke for her.  

It was in June 2020.  

She appeared on a camera trap hopping along on three legs.  

Her left front leg was gone except for a small stump.  

She was getting around quite well for a coyote with three legs, trotting through the tall grass as grasshoppers hopped all around her. She even captured a few.

It is hard having a stomach of iron to let nature play its course in life.  I had done that last year with a northern mockingbird fledging who was being pursued by a coachwhip. Eventually, the coachwhip gave up and tried coming after me.

This girl coyote appeared to be in really bad shape and to top it off it seems she had manage as well.  

I shared the video with my friend, Ginny. We both wondered how her leg got mangled. Had someone set a trap on a surrounding ranch and she broke free? Was she born that way? Had she gotten into a fight?  

Soon this Resilient girl was forgotten. In my heart I knew she would succumb to nature’s natural process of living and dying.

Come December, my heart exploded.  This Resilient girl showed up on another camera trap.

There she was. Healthy as can be minus her one leg, with a back leg recovering from mange.  No longer skinny, her coat with full and she was getting around quite well. When I showed Ginny the photo, she noted that many tripawd coyotes have been released from wildlife rehabilitation.

I do not like calling wildlife by names. But she deserves to be called Resilient. She is a beacon of hope and a ray of sunshine in a year many of us are all soon wanting to forget ever came to pass.  

Her future like many of our futures is unknown.  

But no matter our futures, we still move forward with each day and live, just like Resilient.

We have more to be thankful for than we realize.  I am thankful for being able to see Resilient once again living her life and surviving. I am thankful I have gotten through this year.

Happy New Year! May 2021 bring blessings for us all.