Ep. 248 : Fate of a three-legged Coyote with Joey Hinton

While looking into possible Red Wolf genetics found in a Coastal Louisiana Coyote populations, biologist Dr. Joseph Hinton set a trap. Sadly, when a Coyote, later named LA25M was caught in this trap, his leg was irreversibly damaged. Joe decided to bring this Coyote to a vet and get the leg amputated, an unusual procedure when working with study animals, but possibly better than euthanizing the canid. Shortly after the surgery, the LA25M was released with a radio collar and monitored to determine his use of territories. Turns out this Coyote did quite well, regardless of the amputation.

Dr. Katie Clow on Black-legged Ticks and Lyme Disease (from the archives)

Last week I was getting ready for bed when I found a Black-legged Tick with their head embedded in my back. I got a little bit anxious, but immediately went for my phone to take some photos. My partner removed helped me remove the tick and I didn’t feel too anxious about it after that. Last week we found a number of ticks around town, or heard co-workers found some, or were visiting some spots where I had encountered ticks in the past. Today when I got home from teaching a class, I saw a massively engorged tick on my cat while she was laying about in the backyard.
All of these recent sightings or memories have got me thinking about ticks, so I wanted to rebroadcast this episode from 2020. I bet a lot of the information is still very relevant, so listen up, get stoked on how cool ticks are, and continue to check yourself.