Camera Catches Coyote Having A Blast With Toys Dog Left In The Yard

"Even more surprising was his playfulness."

Last week, a string of thefts began rocking the quiet, rural home of Brian Chisholm and his dog, Sancho Panza.

Night after night, dog toys left out on the lawn by Sancho were going missing — stolen, it would seem, by some mysterious someone with a penchant for pups’ playthings.

Sancho wasn't pleased. But Chisholm came to learn that someone else was.

Brian Chisholm

After the third night of thefts, Chisholm and Sancho had about enough. Together, they headed out onto their property in search of the missing toys. And sure enough, in a field not far away, they found them strewn about.

That mystery was solved. But another remained: Who kept stealing the toys?

Chisholm had a plan to find out. He set up a camera in the yard and piled the toys in front it — and the next night, the thief returned, only to be captured on video.

Turns out, it was a coyote who'd apparently stumbled upon Sancho's toys and decided to have some fun with them night after night. Now Chisholm had proof — and he was quite surprised to see the culprit.

"I figured it would be a fox, not a lone coyote," Chisholm told The Dodo. "Even more surprising was his playfulness."

Chisholm's camera had captured one happy coyote.

Brian Chisholm

Sancho might not have been too thrilled sharing his toys with a coyote, but at the end of the day, there was no real harm done. And, evidently, he won't have to share them forever.

"We go out in the morning and pick [the toys] up," Chisholm said, adding: "The coyote has not been here for the past couple of nights."