LEE WARD: On the coyote side | News

I might be in the minority again, but I’ve always hated Roadrunner cartoons.

In sympathy with the coyote, I wanted him to catch up with the roadrunner. I wanted his caught little “beeps” to end and the coyote to receive a reward for his hard work.

Of course, it would have been traumatic if Wiley Coyote had really caught this bird, but you know that isn’t going to happen, so don’t hesitate to cheer on the underdog.

In reality, he may not be the underdog. I’ve read that coyotes can travel over 40 miles per hour, while top road runner speeds are around 20 miles per hour.

However, a recent report shows a roadrunner traveling much faster than 20 mph.

United Press International reported that a roadrunner was found in a van after a man and his son inadvertently drove him from Las Vegas to Maine.

Called Avian Haven Veterinary Hospital in Freedom, Maine, said in a Facebook post that the couple contacted the facility when he and his son opened the back of their moving truck at a storage facility in Westbrook and discovered that a roadrunner had apparently pulled over in the vehicle. before leaving Las Vegas.

Animal Rescue dispatched a representative who was able to catch the creature, bring it back to the rescue, examine it and declare it in good condition, considering it had been in the van for four days. They said maybe there was some food on the side for the trip, you know, like a lunch box.

The group said it was exploring options to bring the roadrunner back to its original habitat, namely Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Arizona and southern California.

When I watched the cartoon when I was a kid (I know, I said I didn’t like it, but that didn’t mean I didn’t watch it), I didn’t know what ‘a roadrunner was truly a bird. I thought it was something made up for the cartoon. It looked more like an ostrich to me.

It was years later that I saw a photo of a roadrunner and wondered, “How did the designers get their character looking at this bird?”

But what is correct is the fact that coyotes prey on road runners just like raccoons and hawks. In turn, roadrunners eat rodents, reptiles, small mammals, and insects, as well as scorpions, tarantulas, other birds, fruits, and seeds.

It’s a wide variety of food and it makes me wonder what this roadrunner who went to Maine packed in his lunchbox.

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lward@dailyindependent.com