Crazy coyote runaround. (Exercising the Right).Jimmy Hawthorne lives on a 300-acre wooded site in eastern New Kent, Virginia New Kent is an unincorporated community located in New Kent County, Virginia (USA). It is the county seatGR6 of New Kent County. . On January 26th, he was riding his lawn mower mower, farm machine used for cutting grasses and other hay crops. Mowers, drawn by or attached to tractors, or self-propelled, have superseded scythes. The mower is essentially an adaptation of the much earlier reaper. The first commercial mower was patented in 1847. some 400 yards from his home when a coyote coyote (kī`ōt, kīō`tē) or prairie wolf, small, swift wolf, Canis latrans, native to W North America. It is found in deserts, prairies, open woodlands, and brush country; it is also called brush wolf. emerged from a nearby thicket (jargon) thicket - Multiple files output from some operation. The term has been heard in use at Microsoft to describe the set of files output when Microsoft Word does "Save As a Web Page" or "Save as HTML". . Without provocation, the animal attacked him. (This was unusual, since coyotes are typically not aggressive toward humans, and there had never been a reported case of a coyote attacking a human in Virginia, nor a confirmed case of a rabid one in the state.) The coyote began snapping at Hawthorne's legs. Since Hawthorne was unarmed, he could only fend off the coyote by kicking it. When the coyote momentarily retreated into the woods, Hawthorne attempted to ride back to his house, but the mower ran out of gas with some 300 yards to go. The coyote returned, and as the two scurried around the mower, Hawthorne again sought to hold it at bay with kicks, and with jabs from a large stick he had picked up. All told, the bizarre man-versus-beast confrontation lasted about 20 minutes before Hawthorne was able to deliver a kick sufficiently potent to force the coyote into a second retreat. Seizing the opportunity, Hawthorne took off running, but as he reached the yard of his house and glanced over his shoulder, he saw the coyote loping after him. "We had another round in the yard," he told the Times-Dispatch, after which the coyote "went back in the woods" once again. Moments later, as Hawthorne entered the house, the coyote returned and began climbing the porch steps. Hawthorne grabbed a .40-caliber pistol, opened the door, and fired a shot which missed. The sound startled star·tle v. star·tled, star·tling, star·tles v.tr. 1. To cause to make a quick involuntary movement or start. 2. To alarm, frighten, or surprise suddenly. See Synonyms at frighten. the coyote, however, and it ran off for a fourth time, giving Hawthorne time to arm himself with a 12-gauge shotgun, jump into his truck, and return to his disabled lawn mower. When the persistent predator returned for yet another round, the armed homeowner shot and killed it -- taking care to aim at its torso, rather than its head, to preserve the brain tissue necessary for a rabies rabies (rā`bēz, ră`–) or hydrophobia (hī'drəfō`bēə), acute viral infection of the central nervous system in dogs, foxes, raccoons, skunks, bats, and other animals, and in test. Tests the next day confirmed that the coyote was indeed rabid. A Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries The Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, or VDGIF, regulates fish and wildlife in Virginia. It is managed by the Director of Game and Inland Fisheries and overseen by the Virginia Board of Game and Inland Fisheries. official commended Hawthorne for showing "great presence of mind" in not shooting the coyote in the head. Happily, Hawthorne emerged from the harrowing ordeal unscathed. |
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