In 1994, My wife and I had a modest home in Lake Arrowhead.
I happened to know many of the lake patrol officers and the sheriff. They all knew I was a veterinarian and had a wildlife preserve in the Santa Monica Mountains.
One day, apparently in the neighborhood of my house, a young coyote had been hit by a car and had sustained a broken back.
The poor little guy could use his front legs and was totally paralyzed in the rear. The motorist called the sheriff and said sadly, I hit this young coyote and I saw him crawl towards the lake. Is there any way that you can find him and end his suffering? The sheriff obviously obliged. Apparently they found the coyote but the coyote eluded them just below and close to my home. At the time I was fishing off my dock, and the sheriff and his associate asked me to help them.
They showed me where they had lost the little guy. I was able to begin searching the area when I spotted him in a hiding place behind some large tree roots. I could see from his wounds and his paralysis, his suffering must be stopped. The coyote saw me and dragged himself into the water and headed for a pier and then disappeared. The sheriff and associate decided that the coyote had drowned. Unfortunately I knew better. Now this was the real hard part for me because I knew that little guy was suffering but still alive, probably clinging to the underside of the dock.
Just so you know, I have taken a number of damaged creatures in the past, with similar injuries and xrayed them etc and had nothing to repair and no life for the animal, therefore euthanasia was performed. There were no “what if’s” for this coyote. Without getting too graphic, where the tire had removed the skin from his back you could see a displaced spinal column. I ask if either of them had an old gun that I might get wet? I think it is important that I dive under the dock and make sure he not up in the airspace hanging on. They did have a beat up 22 caliber rifle that had seen better times.
I got in the water and swam with my thumb over the end of the barrel. Once under the dock, there the poor little coyote was. I manipulated as much water as I could out of the barrel and action and ended the poor little guys suffering. Yes I brought his remains out and made sure he could not have been repaired. He could not, but you know I still was not happy about what I had to do, but I knew it had to be done.
My entire life’s direction has been prevention and not euthanasia, but sometimes you must relieve an animal from their suffering even though you carry a heavy heart. I am a veterinarian.
Yours in Health
Dr. Al Plechner DVM
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