Govenor Rick Perry of Texas shoots and kills a coyote while jogging with his dog

WITH RESPECT TO THE GOVENOR FEELING HE HAS EVERY RIGHT TO BE OUT JOGGING WITH HIS DOG IN COYOTE HABITAT............. HE HAS EVERY RIGHT BUT WITHOUT HIS DOG. THE COYOTES ARE NOT AFTER RICK PERRY OR HIS JOB................THE COYOTES SEE HIS DOG AS A COMPETITOR INVADING THEIR TERRITORY AND WILL LOOK TO TAKE IT OUT..............WE ALL NEED TO RE-EVALUATE WHAT "BELONGS TO US" AND WHAT BELONGS PERIOD!...................OUR ATTITUDES MUST EVOLVE SO THAT WE DO NOT SEE THE COYOTE DOING SOMETHING WRONG OR EVIL WHEN IN FACT IT IS JUST A MAKING SURE IT'S TERRITORY IS NOT INVADED BY COMPETING CANIDS.


Texas Gov. Rick Perry shoots coyote that threatened his dog

By: JIM VERTUNO
Associated Press
04/28/10 4:33 PM EDT


AUSTIN, TEXAS — Pistol-packing Texas Gov. Rick Perry has a message for wily coyotes out there: Don't mess with my dog.

Perry told The Associated Press on Tuesday he needed just one shot from the laser-sighted pistol he sometimes carries while jogging to take down a coyote that menaced his puppy during a February run near Austin.

Perry said he will carry his .380 Ruger — loaded with hollow-point bullets — when jogging on trails because he is afraid of snakes. He'd also seen coyotes in the undeveloped area.

When one came out of the brush toward his daughter's Labrador retriever, Perry charged.
"Don't attack my dog or you might get shot ... if you're a coyote," he said Tuesday.

Perry, a Republican running for a third full term against Democrat Bill White, is living in a private house in a hilly area southwest of downtown Austin while the Governor's Mansion is being repaired after a 2008 fire. A concealed handgun permit holder, Perry carries the pistol in a belt.

"I knew there were a lot of predators out there(YOU AND YOUR DOG BEING SOME OF THOSE PREDATORS, DEAR GOVERNOR) You'll hear a pack of coyotes. People are losing small cats and dogs all the time out there in that community," Perry said.

"They're very wily creatures."AND SMART...........AND SURVIVORS)

On this particular morning, Perry said, he was jogging without his security detail shortly after sunrise.
"I'm enjoying the run when something catches my eye and it's this coyote. I know he knows I'm there. He never looks at me, he is laser-locked on that dog," Perry said.

"I holler and the coyote stopped. I holler again. By this time I had taken my weapon out and charged it. It is now staring dead at me. Either me or the dog are in imminent danger(THE DOG, NOT YOU!) I did the appropriate thing and sent it to where coyotes go," he said.(NOTHING TO BE PROUD ABOUT, GOVENOR)

Perry said the laser-pointer helped make a quick, clean kill.
"It was not in a lot of pain," he said. "It pretty much went down at that particular juncture."

Texas state law allows people to shoot coyotes that are threatening livestock or domestic animals. The dog was unharmed, Perry said.

Perry's security detail was not required to file a report about the governor discharging a weapon, said Department of Public Safety spokeswoman Tela Mange.

"People shoot coyotes all the time, snakes all the time," Mange said. "We don't write reports."(PERHAPS YOU SHOULD BE INVESTIGATING THESE KILLINGS, MR. MANGE)

The governor left the coyote where it fell."He became mulch," Perry said.