San Jose resident Chuck Rossi and Silvia Restelli were so enamored with a coyote den on their property, they brilliantly set up a "Coyote Cam" to watch a mom and her five newborn pups brave their new world.
According to Rossi, the coyote mom would appear every four hours or so during the pups' first two weeks of life. When she didn't return over a 48-hour period, Rossi knew that something was amiss. Sadly, it's since been confirmed that the mom coyote was killed in a May 4th overnight kit-and-run on Almaden Expressway, as KTVU reports.
Rossi then reached out to The Wildlife Center of Silicon Valley and a non-profit wildlife team from Monterey who joined efforts to extract the scared pups from their well-placed den.
"She made a den that was an engineering marvel," Rossi told KRON4. It took around three hours to finally pull the pups from their den on May 7th. They were dehydrated and covered in fleas.
Two days after the pups were rescued, according to the Mercury-News another coyote was hit by a car at the intersection of Hellyer Avenue and Embedded Way in San Jose and died from her injuries. She was discovered to be lactating, which means there might be another stranded litter of coyote pups in need of a rescue. Ugh.
The little guys now live at the Wildlife Center of Silicon Valley's hospital, and the non-profit will be responsible for their longterm care. The coyotes are expected to return to the wild this fall when they'll be able to fend for themselves. No, we can not adopt them.
Related: Video: Bernal Hill Coyote Plays With Ball Just Like One Of The Dogs