Coyote drama in the WhatsApp

Good morning, it’s Friday, Sept. 18. You can look forward to sunny skies all day with temps in the high 70s and low 80s. 

Los Angeles doesn’t have an official animal. The unofficial one, obviously, is the coyote.

You can find them in virtually every neighborhood, usually between dusk and dawn. They’re so difficult to track that we don’t really have any idea how many there are. One lives next to our name in your email inbox.

Most of the coyotes in Los Angeles do not have names. But Wendy was an exception in multiple ways — the beloved Studio City resident, who earned national press last month for her severely swollen face, was captured and euthanized last week after veterinarians determined that “there was no surgery or treatment capable of restoring normal function,” according to a wildlife care organization involved in her capture.

The veterinary examination also determined that Wendy had been shot twice with a pellet gun, provoking an outcry among animal lovers. A pitbull rescue group put out a $10,000 reward for information leading to the shooter’s arrest and conviction. And one woman in Encino was inspired to exact public revenge against her neighbor: a former owner of a food brand (one you’ve almost definitely seen on L.A. shelves) who discussed the use of pellet guns against coyotes in their neighborhood WhatsApp thread.

I went to Encino to report on the story of a group chat eruption that involves high-protein cookies, a call to LAPD, and the ex-Laker formerly known as Metta World Peace.

I did not see any coyotes. But I did see something tucked between the slats of a neighbor’s gate that might provide a clue to the next phase of this story.