WESTHAMPTON — Last Friday one of our trail cams captured a deer fleeing across a beaver pond with a coyote in hot pursuit.
Make that wet pursuit. While the deer was able to find footing on a submerged beaver dam, it was too deep for the coyote, which had to dog paddle its way across.
Although we have seen deer swim or wade here a few times, this is the first time we have seen a coyote in the water.
David Wattles, black bear and furbearer biologist for MassWildlife, said the deer almost certainly got away. While coyotes are known for taking fawns and sick, weak or injured deer, it’s rare for them to be able to take down a healthy adult, he said.
That apparently doesn’t stop them from trying.