A coyote rescued from the waters near PortMiami was "humanely euthanized," according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
Chopper footage showed the rescue by Miami-Dade Fire Rescue crews after the animal was found in the water Tuesday morning.
Eventually, first responders were able to get to the coyote, who was stuck between a buoy and the sea wall, and take it to safety to a nearby boat.
The crew of seven members said the animal was biting, scratching and crawling at them as they were rescuing it.
"It’s definitely not something we do every day. But it’s fairly simple," said MDFR's Andres Machado. "We just have to, uh...scare him out from behind one of those buoys and then lasso him, you know, like a cowboy.”
The coyote was taken to a nearby rescue center by Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission officials, who made the decision to euthanize him.
The initial plan was to rehabilitate the coyote at the Wildlife Rescue of Dade County, an employee said.
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“They came here and picked up a cage, and I’ve been getting ready to receive it ever since, and I’ve just been told that higher up in their chain of command the decision was made to euthanize the animal," said rescue employee Lloyd Brown. “The reason I was given was coyotes are considered to be a nuisance animal. We’d love the opportunity to save this guy and put it back in the wild.”
FWC says the reason the coyote was put down was because the animal is a non-native species.
However, Zoo Miami wildlife expert, Ron Magill, says that's not accurate.
“This is an animal that has over the years migrated down to the state, it’s one of the most adaptable animals in the world," Magill said. "There’s 600 in Chicago so they can adapt to almost any environment so they are naturally occurring here now."
