When coyotes are injured, they tend to lay low — I wondered why I hadn’t seen this one, and now I know.
Injuries are not uncommon in our wild animals. Although wild critters are pretty resilient, if an injury impairs an animal’s ability to get away from danger, or if it interferes with effective hunting, it could spell the end.
This injury, affecting the left front leg, could be an injury to the elbow, shoulder, wrist or paw. Coyotes can twist their “ankles” like the rest of us, when they hit a hole in the ground going full speed. Of course, normally they are not going full speed — unless they need to get away from a dog which is chasing it, or possibly from a car on the road.
Hopefully it will heal quickly. Three years ago, this same coyote sustained a back-leg injury which caused severe limping for over a month. She was hit by a car. It was June and she was a single mom with two young pups. We knew that nature would take care of her, and we knew that any interference on our part would make matters worse. We watched, and sure enough, she healed, and her pups grew up!
Coyote Yipps 
