Warning: Graphic content below.
The sister of an SPCA employee discovered a dead coyote in a shopping cart outside of the Prince Albert Petland store on Monday afternoon.
The young woman called the SPCA to report her finding. Animal protection officer Jared Epp was the first to respond to the scene.
The animal appeared to have been hit by a vehicle, according to Epp, before its body was transported to the store parking lot where it was left in the shopping cart.
Epp said the young woman who made the call initially believed it to be a dead dog.
“I went over there as fast as I could and she was there waiting and she was very upset and she had covered the animal with a blanket, like over the cart. Or her jacket actually,” he said.
As he was looking into it, he made sure no one parked near the cart. He waited for bylaw officers to arrive and remove the coyote’s body.
He indicated that they are not sure what led up to the animal being placed in the cart.
“Maybe somebody hit it and put it in the back of their truck, and then had to do running around in town or whatever and put it in the shopping cart. I don’t … understand why someone would do that. It’s hard to say how the animal ended up there.”
Debbie Lehner, manager of the Prince Albert SPCA said they determined it was a female coyote.
“At first, they couldn’t determine if it was shot or hit by a vehicle. But the consensus seems to be that it was maybe hit.”
She said only a sick and demented person would put the coyote in a shopping cart.
The SPCA attended the scene because it wasn’t sure whether it was a domestic dog or a wild animal.
“Any calls that we would get like that are related within our jurisdiction, we would attend to.”
Lehner is asking anyone with information to contact the SPCA or bylaw enforcement.
tjames@panow.com
On Twitter: @thiajames
