Island’s wild requires resolve to save it

It was just after the crack of dawn and my golden retriever, Lindsay, was riding shotgun in the right front seat, keeping a good lookout.

We made our right turn onto Settegast Road and headed toward Stewart Road on our way to work.

As we crossed the bridge over the slough, my eyes spotted a small coyote running ahead and away from me as if we were in hot pursuit.

There had been one near this same spot, near the cattle pens on the old Chapoton Ranch, late one evening on our return home last year.

This coyote looked over its shoulder at me as we slowed down to a stop. It then darted across the front of my truck into the field on our left.

We must have been only 10 yards away from each other when it stopped, and we just stared at each other.

It was in a clearing big enough so that we could see its whole body and its spindly legs and fluffy tail.

It was lean and skinny.

It had a beautiful natural coat of light brown hair. Its long skinny ears were perked straight up and its dark, piercing eyes stared at me for several seconds with intense curiosity, as if we were relatives from the distant past.

Its long and pointed nose was similar to Lindsay’s, and its head was just a little larger than a sheltie’s.

It was beautiful in its wildness. It gave me a comforting sense to know that there is still enough wilderness left on our island where untamed animals can survive with dignity.

Time was frozen in those few seconds. In an instant our Creator brought us together in union with Him.

In this moment, the center of creation was exposed and one could see a spark of the divine.

The Creator’s signature was present as it so often appears in the wild on our West Galveston Island.

Those who share this common experience on our island are blessed. Yet we share the same sadness of seeing it being lost and fading away.

Greed has no boundaries. Our economic system has no restraint and only our political will can require the preservation and conservation of open spaces for our wild life.

And, as this free animal lumbered away, there was a sadness in knowing of its future expulsion — losing its home to houses and roads and cars and noise because our community lacks the political resolve to effect and enforce any realistic comprehensive plan.

With all of the development going on along the West End, this coyote’s time is running out. Its habitat is being overrun and destroyed.

The only consoling thought to myself, as we started rolling again, was that maybe I’ll have the good fortune to die before they are gone.

Robert Moore, an attorney, lives in Galveston.