RANCHO BERNARDO (KGTV)- A coyote with piping trapped around her neck is still suffering, much to the chagrin of neighbors and animal rescue organizations.
Katie Ryan first noticed the mother coyote was in trouble April 15th. She has an outdoor camera that captures her side yard in the overnight hours and, prior to this, she's seen lots of animals travel through.
"We moved in a little over 3 1/2 years ago, and we had no idea that we were moving onto a pathway for all types of wildlife. We've had a raccoon on a nightly basis recently, one of my neighbors had deer, we've seen roadrunners," she said.
Katie's worked tirelessly, monitoring the coyote from her window and calling organizations to get help. "[I'm] making sure she's safe and that no one's out trying to injure her more than she already is," she said.
The Fund for Wildlife Animal Center, based in Ramona, brought out a large trap, filled it with bait, but the raccoons got to it before they could trap the coyote.
Katie had them remove the trap last weekend after a week of no luck. Her hope is another rescue group will be able to trap the coyote Monday night.
"I want it humane, I don't want, I did talk with some people who... I was not happy with their trapping ideas because she's already in such bad condition," she said.
Katie has grown so invested in the animal, she and her husband came up with a name for her, "because of the tubing around her neck, my husband and I were just joking around about it and we just said it reminds us, she looks like a turtle. So we called her Myrtle the Turtle."
As time goes on, the situation becomes more desperate. Katie's pictures show how thin Myrtle's become over the past month and she's worried about Myrtle's pups.
"She's very cut up and could be septic at this point and I noticed she's starting to have problems with her hind legs and her hips," Katie said. "Just watching her try to move from A to B, is painful, it really actually gives me physical and mental pain to see her in that kind of distress."
PETA has gotten involved, saying they want to help. The Fund for Wildlife Animal Center says they have room and experts ready to help once Myrtle's caught.
If you find a wild animal, you are advised to not approach it, touch it or feed it, contact animal rescue personnel.
