LYNN – Swampscott Animal Control and the Massachusetts Environmental Police teamed up to rescue a coyote trapped on a boat at Volunteer Yacht Club over the weekend.
Swampscott ACO Dan Proulx said he responded to the incident after receiving a call just before 11 a.m. Friday from Massachusetts Environmental Police officers already on the scene.
“They called looking for someone with a catch pole and I’m their guy, so I went out there and they showed me … that the coyote had gone into a side compartment of the boat,” Proulx said. “There was only one way out – through a small hole.”
Getting on his hands and knees, Proulx said it took roughly five minutes to hook the timid animal around the catch pole and pull it out of its entrapment.
“I was almost on my stomach trying to hook it,” he said. “It kept biting the pole and it took a good four or five minutes to finally get him.”
Earlier reports say the boat’s owner reported the stuck coyote to the Environmental Police at 9:30 a.m., adding that he’d seen the pup wandering around the area in recent days.
Due to its smaller size, Proulx guessed the coyote to be around eight months old and said he believed the animal may have wandered onto the vessel out of sheer curiosity or in an attempt to take shelter from the day’s high winds.
Although he found this particular situation unusual, Proulx added that this time of year is common for coyote mischief.
“There are a lot of wooded areas around here, and we have new pups born every year,” he said. “I’m kind of used to them. The young pups are venturing out because they’re old enough to get out there and be doing their thing.”
Once it was clear the coyote was unharmed, it was immediately released back into the wild.
Thankfully, Proulx thinks the young pup has learned its lesson.
“I don’t think the coyote will ever go near a yacht club or boat again,” he said.
