When Brian McAskin ventured out to fetch his morning newspaper around 7:30 a.m. Tuesday, he found something other than the day’s headlines.
The 54-year-old Addison resident discovered what appeared to be a frozen coyote standing in a snowbank on the side of his driveway at the corner of Apache Ct. and Barr Rd.
‘It looked alive. I’ll tell you it fooled so many people,? McAskin said. ‘Everybody was talking about it.?
One neighbor, thinking the coyote was alive, approached it with an ice pick.
Although he didn’t touch the deceased creature, McAskin said, ‘It was real. There was no doubt it was real.?
No one knows how the coyote got there, but McAskin and his neighbors speculated that maybe someone hit it with a vehicle because the animal’s fur was flattened on the left side and its ear ‘slightly bent.?
‘We were thinking it was hit by a car and laid down, then somebody picked it up and thought it would be kind of comical to prop it up,? McAskin said.
He and a neighbor looked for footprints or tracks around the coyote, but found none.
When McAskin went back out around 12:30 p.m. that same day to take some more photographs of the coyote, he discovered it was gone.
‘Somebody came and took it, darn it,? he said. ‘I just called my wife and told her it’s gone. She was kind of sad.?
McAskin’s particularly disappointed the coyote was taken because a cable TV technician was supposed to come out to his house that afternoon.
‘When the guy called, I was just going to tell him to look for the coyote,? he said with a chuckle.
McAskin’s not sure if he’s the victim of a practical joke, but if he is, it’s a good one.
‘It was comical. I absolutely loved it,? he said. ‘It kind of made my day.?