Shooting of beloved Studio City coyote 'Wendy' sparks hunt for justice

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Set us as preferred A hunt for justice is on in Studio City after someone shot a beloved young coyote twice in the head with a pellet gun, leading to an infection so severe that veterinarians decided the most humane thing to do was to euthanize her.Mark Rulon, a wildlife activist and founder of Southern California Pit Bull Rescue, is personally offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to the conviction of anyone responsible for shooting the coyote known as “Wendy.”“Here’s a coyote with her face swollen to the point where her eyes are shut and her tongue is hanging out, surviving in the Valley in 100-degree heat,” Rulon said.

“She’s one of the most amazing animals I’ve ever known.”Wendy the coyote was a fixture in the San Fernando Valley community for years, often spotted wandering around the neighborhood or curling up to sunbathe in a patch of grass, he said.California In Southern California, it’s coyote breeding season.

Here’s what you need to know about it and what precautions you should be taking.Residents first noticed the swelling in her face about a year ago, and it worsened over time to the point where she struggled to see properly, eat or drink.Southern California Pit Bull Rescue and another nonprofit, Wildlife Care of SoCal, teamed up last month to bring Wendy off the streets in hopes of getting her desperately needed medical care.But despite the coyote’s fighting spirit, her injuries were too extreme to recover from with any meaningful quality of life.“It is difficult to comprehend how much this young coyote endured over the course of the past year,” Wildlife Care of SoCal wrote in an update Tuesday.

“She survived devastating trauma, two pellets lodged in her head, and a relentless infection that gradually destroyed part of her jaw — yet she continued adapting, searching fo...