Coyote Bites Ignorant Skier At Mammoth Mountain, CA

Ella Boyd
·2 min read
425

A video posted to the Mammoth sub-Reddit 5 days ago shows someone extending their hand to a coyote in the Mammoth parking lot. The author of the video wrote, "hey there little guy, I'm here to help."

Two things are immediately clear: this animal is not "little" and it does not need "help" from a human.

Hey there little guy. I'm here to help.
by u/herbschmoaka in yesyesyesyesno

In fact, the coyote was so uninterested in getting help it bit the hand that was extended out to it.

The man exclaims, "ow!" multiple times, and cusses out the coyote. But why? What else could this person have possibly thought would happen?

Now, he will have to get a rabies shot for pursuing his dream of... actually, we're not really sure.

There is a saying, "to bite the hand that feeds you," which is sort of what happened here, except again, no one should be feeding coyotes, and it is pretty expected to get bit when interacting with a wild animal. 

It is not helpful to feed any wild animal. And it is just plain ignorant to think this situation will end without either the human or the animal getting hurt.

Apparently, the coyote is named "Hotdog" by skiers at Mammoth because people feed it hot dogs. Again, this is not a healthy dymanic for humans to have with wild animals.

It should go without saying, (but apparently doesn't) that feeding wild animals incentivizes these types of interactions, makes animals reliant on humans for survival instead of their own abilities, and, in this case, hot dogs are not a good source of nutrition for coyotes (or anyone, but that's a different conversation).

Some commenters on Reddit brought up the point that humans interacting with wild animals often leads to the animal being euthanized, which is unfair and cruel.

Coyotes can look like friendly dogs, but it's not hard to watch for collars and owners nearby indicating that these animals are safe to pet. And this really shouldn't even have to be instructed.

All in all, enjoy nature from a distance and leave the wild animals alone.

Related: Las Vegas' Ski Resort Hit With 28 Inches Of Snow

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