It’s that time of year again. RVers are flocking to Arizona to hang out in the desert around Quartzsite, shop the vendors, enjoy the sunsets, meet up with old friends, and feed the coyotes.
It seems to be a sad and sickening annual event. Every winter I hear from people that lose pets to coyotes and other wild animals. Just last May I wrote a blog about this very thing titled It’s Cruelty, Not Love. Won’t people ever learn? Apparently not.
The other day I got an e-mail from somebody telling me to warn blog readers about coyotes because they lost their Sheltie while dry camping near Quartzsite. They were both horrified and appalled. “We had Misty tied up outside on a leash and the coyote just jerked her right out of her collar and was gone before we could get outside,” they wrote.
While I sympathize with their loss, all I could think was, well what did you expect? You come into the coyote’s back yard and leave your dog tied up outside, and he thinks you just delivered dinner. Don’t blame the coyotes, they are just doing what’s natural. People, if you are going to have animals, please be responsible pet owners. It only takes a second for a predator to grab your cat or dog and make off with them.
And you don’t have to be out in the boondocks to encounter coyotes. The other day Miss Terry and I saw a pair of them crossing the road in front of us about a mile from our RV park, which is on a major road here in Apache Junction.
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Good Clean Murder, the first book in my pal Traci Tyne Hilton’s Plain Jane mystery series is free. With a four star rating from 115 customer reviews on Amazon, you know it’s a good read. And if you like historical romance books, check out Suzy Stewart Dubot’s Hope in Winter, another Amazon freebie.
Thought For The Day – The brain is am amazing organ. It works 24 hours a day, 7 days a week from the moment you are born right up until the moment when you fall in love.
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Nick Russell
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Thanks for the mention, Nick. We’ve seen coyotes – down from the Endowment lands around UBC University – on our URBAN walks. We always warn people with dogs if we’ve seen one. But they have to eat, to survive our encroachment. There are missing cat posters almost every block around here. But that’s because of the mated pair of eagles as well.
Meals On Wheels ….. As the sign in the window of the Chinese restaurant stated…”WE DELIVERY” It all tastes like chicken….or cat…lol
predators are not only in the southwest. A panther (cougar) has been seen recently on the entry road to this campground and gators are everywhere in Florida and pets have been lost to both through the years
Nick,
Have you ever thought about getting a ‘pet’ coyote to travel with you? It might help with the yappy dogs that bother you…….. and a lot of the rest of us!
Happy New Year, and safe travels next year!
Richard
I’m amazed at the number of people who put their animals outside on a leash, like the RV across from me in Oregon with two cats who were tied up outside all day. Why do you even travel with animals when apparently you don’t like their company enough to let them stay inside with you … let alone the danger you put them in from predators. I agree Nick, it’s cruelty, not love!!
We have 3 Cats that travel with us in our Bus. When I built it I put in a hanging Cat bed that they sleep in. they are only outside when we are and we watch them. Most of the time they like to be inside. If you want the best chair in the RV move the cat.
Its like people that leave their kids playing in the pool, just not a good idea.
Dave Walker
Its hard to believe pet parents would be this careless, but then again ….
I just love the idiocy “pet parent” your pet is an animal, its parent is the other animal that gave birth to it. you are its keeper, supporter and friend but definitely not its parent.