Coyotes: Harder to Come By Than I Thought

*sigh* Does anyone love the coyote??

I scoured the web tonight for wildlife rescue and rehab centers in the Southwestern United States, as this is the new direction that my journey is taking me (more on that in a moment). The sites were generously sprinkled with cutey-pie pics of baby owls, raccoons, opossums, antelope, golden eagles, and rabbits, but nary a coyote shot was to be seen. Why is this? I ask. Surely there must be plenty of abandoned, injured, and otherwise incapacitated coyotes scattered over the desert mesas.

Or not . . . I can't remember the last time I saw a coyote with its head stuck in a tin can (ahem, do I hear a raccoon?).

The coyote's curious omission deserves a suitable investigation . . . and is yet another good reason why I've taken up its cause in the first place. My initial theory is that because coyote hunters are offered a bounty on their kills, locals simply exterminate them with a Smith & Wesson on the spot, rather than attempt to haul them in to a wildlife shelter. It's a shame, but since I don't know for sure - I think I better go to the source and find out. To be continued.

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In other news, recent developments in my job search have redirected the focus (and duration) of my fact-finding trip. So as not to harm the karma of my upcoming interview, I won't give the whos whens and wheres, but I will say that it will definitely satisfy the needs of my naturalist soul and is the first prospect I've been genuinely excited about in years. As part of the interview I was asked to put together a nature-focused presentation, and if you have to ask which topic I chose, you'll need to re-read the title of this blog. ;-p Bolstered by the creative challenge (and the drive to start earning a decent paycheck), I hammered out my first children's book in just half a day! The result really surprised me. I plan to give a reading of the short work to my prospective employers, complete with Cleo the Coyote hand puppet and plenty of yips, yowls, and yodels. Wow, when the HR representative referred to the follow-up interview as an "audition," I was a little taken aback at first . . . but then I instantly set to work with fervor on the project. And I'm truly excited about the interview. Hmmm, my horoscope and job inventory quizzes have always said "actress" was in my stars and cards, so this job just might be "the one." I sure hope so.

Naturally, if I get the job - and I hope that I do - I'll need to break my coyote journey up into segments of 2-3 weeks. That's fine by me, I can still squeeze a trip in this September and get the process started. I'm considering the Southwest because its nearby, has a long history of coyote folklore within the oral history of the Native Americans, and offers plenty of opportunities for coyote sighting within deserted, lonely, and sacred terrain. If its a spiritual journey I'm after, then this is the ticket. Plus, I hear late summer weather promises a more agreeable desert. Since I'm not necessarily hopping Hiltons here, avoiding excessive hot, cold, rain, and snow is high on my list of creature comforts.