For the past few weeks, residents in West Marin County, Calif. outside of San Francisco have noticed coyotes acting strangely on Highway 1. So strangely, in fact, that people are speculating the coyotes are, in fact, high on mushrooms.
The Pacific Sun reported that coyotes stand in the middle of the road and stare down drivers making their way through a particularly curvy section of the highway. With nowhere else to go, drivers are forced to pull over.
The coyote proceeds to attack the car, running toward it, snapping and sniffing at the vehicle, before skulking off. This is both fascinating and horrifying. San Francisco is a notoriously foggy town and there’s almost nothing more goosebump-inducing than a creepy-ass coyote, shrouded in fog, staring into your soul through your windshield.
After receiving calls from residents, Marine Humane Society director of marketing and communications Lisa Bloch says they are “trying to figure this out.”
Experts have ruled out rabies as the cause based on the fact that these run-ins have been happening for at least three weeks now. If it were rabies, the coyotes would be dead by now. They have not, however, ruled out the possibility that these coyotes ate something like a fly agaric or “magic” mushroom, which can cause hallucinations. They believe the most likely explanation is people feeding the wildlife.
Camilla Fox (great name), founder of Project Coyote, told the Pacific Sun that feeding coyotes is dangerous and only makes the animal hostile. So if you thought you were having some intrinsic, magical experience because a coyote was eating out of the palm of your hand, cool it. You’re not that Twilight lady.
The bottom line, stop feeding coyotes and we’ll all be okay (or we won’t because they’re all tripping balls). If you do see one near Slide Ranch just off Highway 1, you are encouraged to report it to the Humane Society.
