Marathon Pundit and that coyote ugly story

As you may know, I was prominently mentioned in Christopher Martin's Chicago Sun-Times article about the coyote invasion in Chicago, which of course is America's third largest city.

Coyotes in Chicago? Yep.

Through Eric Zorn's Chicago Tribune blog, where I posted that yes, those were coyotes that Eric took a picture near where both of us live (but not with each other) sometime last month. I commented on Eric's blog that I know what the critters look like, since I'd seen them before in South Dakota and Wyoming, and I also encountered coyote road kill in the Chicago suburb of Niles a few months ago.

That posting caught the eye of Mr. Martin, who e-mailed with a request to conduct a telephone interview with me last week. During that interview, I told him that everything in the above paragraph--and when he asked me if I was afraid of the coyotes, I said "no," since nature had taught the urban coyote to stay away from humans. I mentioned that pets getting ambushed was a concern of mine--albeit a minor one--but I ended the conversation with as far as my daily runs, which take me into the towns of Morton Grove, Skokie, Niles and Chicago, I saw no reason to change my routine.

This is what ended up in the Chicago Sun-Times on Sunday:

John Ruberry enjoys his daily jog through Chicago's tree-filled parks. But he doesn't like the half dozen coyotes he's had to run around in the last few years.

"Coyotes should be in the wild, not in the city,'' says Ruberry, 44, who lives on the North Side and jogs along the lakefront. "It's a little scary to know there are so many."

Well, as I commented before, it's great to be in the lead story in a major newspaper. Martin got my age right and spelled my name correctly. However, haven't lived on Chicago's North Side for seven years, and well, none of the stuff I was quoted are things I said.

I did get a few phone calls from people I hadn't heard from in a while, and my family had some good natured laughs about it, so I'll try to focus on the positive.

However, if you work for a big company, as I do, now you know why they don't want you talking to the media. Even if you don't say anything your employer won't approve of, well, you still might end up being quoted on it, if you know what I mean.

Technorati tags: Coyotes Sun-Times Chicago Running Illinois Eric Zorn