PLAINS, Mont., Dec. 11 (UPI) — A dead coyote hung from a tree with a Christmas bow along a Montana school bus route is outraging residents, but police said the display is not illegal.
Plains resident Mary Ellen Siegford, who posted a picture of the less-than-cheerful holiday display on Facebook, said her daughter burst into tears when she saw the dead animal.
“A lot of people were just like, ‘Well, be glad it’s dead. You don’t have to worry about it eating your pets,'” Siegford told KECI-TV. “But I don’t know. To me, it’s morbid, it rings of animal cruelty. It’s just not very pleasant to drive past, and I feel it’s pretty gruesome for the school kids to be passing by on their way to and from school.”
However, Sanders County Sheriff Tom Rummel said there is nothing illegal about the display because it’s located on private land and coyotes are not game animals.
Siegford said the dead coyote was joined Wednesday by the hanging body of a dead raccoon.
“12 days of christmas… a skunk next? what?” she said in a Facebook comment.
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