New Westminster's Moody Park boasts its fair share of urban wildlife in the now-dark early morning hours, but I've rarely had my iPhone camera ready enough to capture the kind of showdown I witnessed this week.
At about 5:30 a.m. on Friday morning, I spotted a skunk ambling around a park bench in the glow of one of the uptown park's lampposts.
I figured that was cute enough to warrant a video.
After I started the video rolling, though, the plot thickened.
I saw a coyote slinking around a large tree right across the path from the skunk.
It lay down beside the tree briefly as it sized up the small, bumbling animal. Then it trotted over to take a closer look.
But the skunk was having none of it.
With tail raised and stiffened, the skunk charged the coyote several times until it scared the wild canine off.
With the threat averted, the diminutive animal meandered off into the dark, its hidden fierceness veiled until the next showdown.
Follow Cornelia Naylor on Twitter @CorNaylor
