Humane Officers Get Adorable Surprise After Taking Call for 'Abandoned Puppy'
In their famous 1969 hit, the Rolling Stones famously intoned, “No you can’t always get what you want. But if you try sometimes, well, you might find you get what you need.”
In some cases, we don’t always completely comprehend that what we need is the very thing staring us in the face. Something like that ended up happening with a hiker in Southern California.
According to the San Diego Union-Tribune, an unidentified man was walking his dog through a canyon near the community of Tierrasanta in March when he came across an unexpected sight: an abandoned puppy.
Now I can’t imagine anyone who would run across an animal in need and simply ignore it. This hiker proved no different.
He bundled up the little animal and took it home. The poor little critter’s next stop? The San Diego Humane Society.
This kind man probably felt pretty good about his deed. After all, he’d helped save an unfortunate pup, hadn’t he?
Well, as the San Diego Union-Tribune reported, this good Samaritan hadn’t rescued a pooch at all. He’d rescued a baby coyote.
When surprised Humane Society staff realized their newest charge was of the wild sort, they conveyed it to the rehabilitation group Project Wildlife.
Project Wildlife employees understood exactly how the mix-up transpired. “It’s really difficult to tell the difference between a dog and a coyote pup, especially at just a few days old,” the rehabilitation director at Project Wildlife, Lauren Du Bois, said.
The Fund for Animals Wildlife Center discussed the case further on Facebook, writing, “Once SDHumane took her back to their facility, she was taken to their wildlife department Project Wildlife where they confirmed that she was actually a coyote pup.
“Our Wildlife Center specializes in the care of California native predatory species, so the coyote pup was transferred to us and has been with us now, for the past four weeks.”
The Fund explained that the case presents some complexities. Normally, the group likes to release animals back into their natural habitat.
“Our goal is always to raise orphans with other conspecifics and eventually return them to their native habitat once they reach natural dispersal age,” the post read. “The hard part with this little girl is that she came in so early in the season, we were unable to pair her up with another orphaned pup.
“Many of the canid and felid species imprint very easily when raised alone from neonates, so though our goal is always to release ill, injured or orphaned wildlife — the final status of the pup is yet to be determined.
“For now, we are happy to report she is doing well and thriving.”
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