Joshua Tree’s famed three-legged coyote Tripod is in danger of being loved to death

This image of Tripod, the coyote, was taken along a road near Joshua Tree National Park in March 2023. “You wouldn’t fathom an animal with three legs would do so well in the desert,” said Daly, who is now a public works employee for the city of Twentynine Palms. “I doubt a coyote would ever attack the kid, but it would go after that piece of beef jerky and if it misses — oh God.” Rick Boyd, animal control supervisor for the city of Twentynine Palms, said he has been told that people are feeding Tripod. “In my family, I kid with them and tell them it’s a sprite, a ghost,” said Steve Troxel, 63, a Navy engineer who saw Tripod when he was bicycling through Twentynine Palms two years ago. If it’s turning into an infection, they’ll gnaw it off.” Some years ago, a three-legged coyote who animal control officers called Kickstand lived near the town’s bowling alley, he said.