Elysian Park: Walking in the misty morn on Wednesday. Heading north toward the oasis, as some people call the garden area where the dog-watering station is located. Is that a condor? Has it moved? I am sure the condor moved. The Bird Man of Echo Park, one of the neighborhood's most elusive of the wild things, seems to have been active.
Later, I hear of more wild animals in Elysian Park. A reader named Kevin emailed me the story of how his Jack Russell terrier nearly leaped into the maws of a pair of coyotes at 2:30 in the afternoon.
It happened yesterday (Monday) at around 2:30 in the afternoon. I was walking my dogs (I have 3: 2 jack russels and 1 yellow lab) around the park loop. My friend and I found a soccer ball in the bushes about 300 yards past the horses as one travels the loop clockwise. One of my dogs goes nuts for soccer balls so we were kicking it for her and she would fetch it and bring it to us for another kick.
Well, here's where the scary part happens. We rounded one of the curves of the path (near where the shortcut path comes down the hill), and the ball travels over the edge towards Stadium Way. Lois, my type A russell high-tails it down the hill to get it. My friend and I watch with a smile as she flies down the steep hill...until a coyote pounces on her about 150 feet down! I instantly race down the hill 10 feet to a stride, listening to my dog howl in fear! I remember something about screaming at the top of one's lungs to scare away wild animals (I think it's for bears or cougars) so I start screaming "GET AWAY FROM HERE!" at the top of my lungs. I see another, bigger coyote jump into the mix as I'm trying not to roll down the steep hill. Well, as luck has it, my screaming worked. The two coyotes are spooked and run away a short distance. At this point, I think, they're as freaked out as Lois and I. Lois then sprints up the hill back to the trail, wondering what the hell just happened while I wonder if the coyotes are looking at me as possible prey. I just keep on screaming at them as I slowly made my way back up the muddy hill.
My friend and I check out Lois. She's fine, just muddy as hell. My heart was racing, my shoes filled with mud, but all was well. I've been walking my dogs for 7 years on that trail and only once seen a coyote, let alone have an encounter with two! I got a feeling that the ball rolled right into their den, and they thought my mostly white russell was a rabbit or cat and jumped her. I'm gonna be more careful from now on when my dogs stray from the path.
Moral of the story: Just because it's 2:30 in the afternoon doesn't mean Coyote has gone away. But you basically have to kick a soccer ball into Coyote's den to get her/him to come out and consider eating or biting you. I was glad to learn that no one was hurt in the encounter, including the coyotes.
More wild things: On Monday I went to Laguna Castle to get a look at the hole in the floor from which snake-extraction specialists plan to remove the perhaps 400 lb. creature burrowing below the yellow-tagged structure. The Castle is two separate apartment buildings, the first built in the 1920s, its partner in the '30s. There are hillside gardens and views of the lake, and as you may know, a big snake. The 1930s structure has been empty of human inhabitants for almost two years, On Feb. 20, 2005, in the midst of the heavy rains, a retaining wall crumbled thunderously in the middle of a downpour night, and the building was red-tagged about three weeks later. In the midst of renovations, a snake and an iguana have been sighted, the snake many times. Snake extractors came and power-sawed a hole in the closet of one of the apartments, but they have been hard to reach when it comes to showing up for snake-extraction appointments. Any day now they are supposed to come and climb through that hole -- which in fact is a crisp rectangle, with a finger-sized notch for lifting -- and go down into the earth and come up with an enormous, mammal-eating snake. Monday, I peered into the depths and no sign of it.
