Tacoma’s viral coyote — known for its gnarly injury and ‘punk rock’ face — has died
Vix Organa sat in the front seat of her pickup truck and cried, pulled to the side of Interstate 5 near the Tacoma Mall.
With speeding vehicles barreling by, Organa, a 30-year-old Tacoma resident who works in animal rescue, struggled to come to terms with what had happened — and what to do now.
In the back of the truck, the unmistakable coyote that captured Tacoma’s hearts and minds lay dead, its diminutive body covered in a blanket.
Organa, one of the most passionate locals who tried to help the injured animal in recent months — part of a small legion of underground supporters and caretakers that emerged, intent on looking after the well-known coyote with what appears to be half a face — got a call from an acquaintance and responded, they told me.
The coyote is best known locally as Jawless Jerry. Photos and videos of the injured animal went viral last year, eventually shared thousands of times the world over.
Mostly, the coyote’s ghastly appearance is what shocked people into looking; missing the top half of its snout, its exposed nasal cavity looks cartoonishly demonic, like something straight from a heavy metal album in the ‘80s. Images of the animal are also heart-wrenching, given the suffering likely involved. It’s an injury that’s hard to fathom, let alone bear witness to.
Still, it was Jerry’s resilience and quest to survive — despite the physical trauma she endured and the challenges she faced — that made her famous.
In a place like Tacoma, the injured coyote — with what Organa described with love and compassion as a “punk rock” face — quickly became a star.
Small burial for an instant Tacoma icon
Jawless Jerry likely died New Year’s Day, according to Organa, who reported picking up her body from the side of the freeway approximately 24 hours later, not long after hearing the news.
Also referred to by other names, like Quasi, the coyote was roughly 2 years old when she died, Organa estimated, young and small for her age.
Based on where the body was found and the injuries sustained, the most likely explanation is the obvious, Organa suggested.
Jawless Jerry was likely hit and killed by a car traveling southbound on I-5 between South 38th and South 56th Street, Organa said, taking solace in the belief it was probably fast and relatively painless.
The animal is now buried in the front yard, Organa told me, in a small grave marked with a white stone.
She provided photos to confirm the animal’s identity and its final resting place, most of which were already widely available online — documenting an unconventional burial that Organa maintains is allowed under state law.
The front-yard display is meant to be a tribute — and a small monument — to a misunderstood creature who overcame insurmountable odds, Organa said.
In the process, Jawless Jerry gave a hard-luck city an underdog to pull for, Organa suggested.
“A lot of people like to say they came across Jerry. I would say Jerry came across me,” said Organa, who recalled first laying eyes on Tacoma’s most famous coyote roughly nine months ago after spotting the animal from a living room window, in the same yard where she’s now buried.
“I think Jerry resonates with people because she’s living proof that no matter what you go through, it just takes effort. Don’t give up. Just keep trying,” Organa said.
“I think a lot of people will remember her as an example of how you can go through some horrific things, and still survive. … I’ll always remember her as the wild animal that brought people together.”
Over the last year, Jawless Jerry has accomplished several remarkable feats, including the distinction Organa noted.
That an undersized, urban coyote — likely disowned by its pack due to its mangled disfigurement and severe injuries — managed to captivate our collective attention in the age of social media might not be surprising, but it’s certainly been memorable.
T-shirts were made. Jawless Jerry content became a mainstay for Tacoma’s Grit City Magazine.
The publication’s editor-in-chief, Sierra Hartman, who helped to document the animal’s saga and whose wife, Nina, designed t-shirts and stickers, suggested on social media after the famous coyote’s death that the best thing we can do to honor Jerry is to “make conscientious choices to protect wild green spaces in the city and allow the rest of our local wildlife to live their best lives.”
On Friday, Hartman said he believes people are drawn to Jawless Jerry, at least in large part, “because almost anything you can say about her, you can say about Tacoma.”
Tacoma “loved Jerry because it’s fun to have a real-life urban legend to share,” added Nina Hartman.
“She was horrifying to behold.,” she continued. “We were all morbidly curious about how she could possibly survive without most of her face. And what a trooper — she was really beating the odds.”
In a local alt-press paper, the Weekly Volcano, musician and artist Sherrie “Voxxy” Johnson described the animal as a “zombie coyote” in a spiritually contemplative piece that landed on the October cover.
She also pondered the big question — reaching a similar conclusion.
Why do so many Tacomans relate to the struggles of a mangled runt of a creature seemingly left to die?
“The sheer tenacity of it being able to survive in that condition ... definitely created a connection for many of us. We’re a blue-collar, hard-working city,” Johnson said earlier this week as news of Jawless Jerry’s death spread online.
“I think there was sort of a mirrored reflection,” Johnson added.
“Each one of us can identify her life with our own struggles. … I feel like it’s just really, really hard to survive right now.”
Debate and controversy
For all the civic self-reflection Jawless Jerry inspired, the injured animal’s plight — and what to do about it, if anything — was also the source of debate and local controversy, raising an ethical dilemma:
Should humans step in? Should nature play its course? Should the animal be euthanized, to humanely end what most believed to be suffering?
Most seemed to have an opinion, even as Jawless Jerry continued to roam among us, managing to persevere.
In late November, a Tacoma woman came to personify the tension after she briefly trapped the famous coyote in hopes of providing medical care and a new life at a local animal rescue facility.
Ultimately unsuccessful, Roxanne — who’s college-educated, in her mid-40s and more recently the owner of night-vision goggles and wildlife trapping equipment — earned stern rebukes from state Department of Fish and Wildlife officials.
Roxanne also drew critiques from outdoors types and scorched-earth attacks from online commentators, she said. She asked The News Tribune to withhold her full name to prevent further harassment.
This week, Roxanne said she gave up trying to trap the animal after she realized accessing care for it in Washington would be nearly impossible, mostly due to a rigid insistence that the coyote be euthanized if captured, a stance held by state Fish and Wildlife officials and wildlife veterinarians..
More recently, she’s focused her efforts on things that are easier to pull off, like slipping medicine into food left in the coyote’s path to help treat the animal’s visible mange, she explained.
Now that Jawless Jerry is gone?
Roxanne says the animal’s legacy — and the lasting meaning we can take from its brief life — is clear:
“The beautiful thing for the community to be proud of is that everyone came together, everyone did a little bit. If you haven’t seen the pictures of her, she was plumped up, her hair was coming back. She didn’t have a care in the world other than people acting strangely towards her — and her disability,” Roxanne said.
“She made it,” Roxanne told me.
“With the right tribe and support, you can survive against all odds — as long as you have the will to keep going.”
This story was originally published January 6, 2024 at 6:00 AM.
