A coyote invaded this Boston TV reporter’s live shot. So she named it.
"He’s a gentleman and a scholar and his den smells of rich mahogany."
Television news has long been known for sending its correspondents outside for that “you-are-there” feel to their live reports — but WBZ-TV may want to reconsider that practice, after reporter Katrina Kincade had an unexpected visitor during a shot outside the station’s Soldiers Field Road studio in Boston.
Kincade was reporting on the coming arctic blast Friday morning when the very clear silhouette of a coyote trotted past the CBS Boston sign behind her.
For her part, Kincade seemed unfazed after discovering that the animal had made an on-air appearance. “I shall name him: Ron Burgundy,” she tweeted, prompting several approving comments from fans of Will Ferrell’s ’70s-era anchorman. (“He’s a gentleman and a scholar and his den smells of rich mahogany,” tweeted one respondent about Kincade’s new four-footed friend.)
Later on the newscast, Kincade informed her colleagues that the coyote was no stranger. “I’ve seen him a few times,” she said. “We’re homies at this point.”
Coyotes have become increasingly more common in populated areas of late, one even being spotted strolling the streets of the Back Bay last month. On the Cape late last year, meanwhile, a coyote was caught red-pawed as the serial stealer of local lawn decorations. And in Nahant the Board of Selectmen authorized the elimination of “habituated” coyotes that depend on humans for food via the use of professional sharpshooters.
Shooting the coyotes from your rooftop is not advised, however; rather, the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife recommends scaring or threatening them with loud noises, bright lights, or water sprayed from a hose.