Quick thoughs about the Quiznos coyote.

As you might have heard, one coyote in Chicago seems to prefer Quiznos subs to the Road Runner.

I imagine it's far from uncommon for animals to wander (or be brought) into businesses. When my dad was still teaching, he also worked part time in a movie theater. One night, someone released a number of bats into the theater. It took days to get all the bats out of the multiplex.

In the case of the bats, the only news accounts we saw were a story in the local paper, and, about six months later, a supermarket tabloid that incorrectly claimed they were six-foot vampire bats. Other cases, such as the coyote and the recent case where rats that took over the KFC/Taco Bell in New York get wide nationwide coverage with commentary. (Case in point, I'm writing about the coyote!)

So, why some stories like that get little or no press? To me the explanation of the different levels of coverage lies in whether someone got pictures. As the old saying goes, "seeing is believing." The picture of coyote in the drink cooler is memorable, funny, and arguably cute. No one got a picture of the bats in the movie theater. So, the world knows about the coyote, and the bats are a family anecdote.