Posted 4:42 PM by John A. Seafisk

I was out for an evening constitutional a few nights ago...which makes sense, since I wouldn't be out for an evening constitutional in the middle of the day. Anyway, as I was walking through the neighborhood past houses & yards, I saw a dog crossing the street. He (or she) walked into the yard where I was walking past. I looked at him (I could tell now) and he looked back.

When I looked at him, I realized it wasn't a dog....It was a coyote. He was gray, not brown, and he wasn't chasing any roadrunners or ordering any supplies from Acme. He sniffed the ground for a bit and looked up at me again. I kept walking, but looking back at him. There was no sense of fear on my part, just curiosity. And I could see no threatening behavior from him. He just glanced at me...and I at him....giving each other a sense of acknowledgement. He soon went journeying into the other yards, and I kept on my route.

It was strange to see a coyote, but I had an idea why he was around. There have been scores of brush fires in the surrounding hills and mountains of Los Angeles. The night before my coyote encounter, I could see the Verdugo Mountains that rise in the near distance glowing in the dark. Earlier, the day had an orange tint about it....from the massive smoke cloud rising in the sky. The fires must have driven the wildlife away from their habitat into the jungles of civilization.

On my way home from my walk, I kept looking around to see if I would meet the coyote again. But I did not. The next evening, I again took an evening stroll, wondering if the coyote would return. As I turned a corner, I approached another yard. There were no coyotes.

But there were deer. 3 females and a male...the male with massive antlers. They were just standing in someone's yard. It was midnight, and I was the only person around...like I was when I saw the coyote the night before. They looked at me, and I looked back...wondering if the male felt threatened enough to charge me and skewer me onto his huge antlers. I could hear hooves clop-clopping on the street pavement as a 4th female was walking toward the yard. I glanced back, but kept walking. As I reached the end of the street, I could still make out the silhouettes of the deer in the yard...just standing there.

I suppose I could have told people the next day. But that would have resulted in coyote & deer searches...police & animal control folks cruising the streets, looking for fugitive fauna. Uppity residents threatening to take the matter into their own hands.

OK, maybe not. But it's best not to let that possibility happen. Overall, it was just neat to see some nature that wasn't caged up or lying dead on the roadside.