Barry Davis, a junior computer science major, snapped a picture of the USD billboard a few miles south of Brookings. The coyote carcass hung for a few hours Tuesday.
A dead coyote was hung on a controversial USD billboard in eastern Brookings Tuesday, and was met with several comments on Facebook after a photograph was posted on the website.
The billboard, installed last month, says, “Have an old friend for dinner,” with an illustration of a coyote chasing a jackrabbit. It shows the date of the next scheduled football game between the two schools in November 2012.
Barry Davis, a junior computer science major, posted a picture of the hanging coyote on Facebook around 3 p.m. At 6:47 p.m., the post had 84 likes, 22 shares and 23 comments.
“It’s very funny,” Davis said. “I think [the rivalry] is going to bring a lot of fans next year.”
Davis said he has “no idea who did it,” but he would “like to congratulate” whoever did.
The coyote was removed by 6 p.m. The Brookings Police Department did not take the dead animal down and is unsure who is responsible for the act.
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I am completely appalled by this story. As an SDSU alum I find this act to be nothing more than gruesome and gratuitous. I am also greatly disgusted, saddened and discouraged by the comments made by Barry Davis. Nothing about this “very funny”, and a person breaking both state and federal animal cruelty laws does not deserve congratulations. As a Brookings resident I truly hope that the Brookings Police Department investigates this matter further, finds those responsible for such heinous acts, and punishes them for this terrible act.
I am all for a fun, lighthearted rivalry (Go Jacks! Beat the Coyotes!), but to kill and display the carcass of an innocent animal is crossing the line into a very dangerous and undesirable territory.
That is funny LMAO. It seems Holly seems to know a lot about the incident – as started “to kill” per her statement when I read it, she makes it sound like someone may have shot it it or something, when it could have been just “roadkill” like the thousand deer laying on the side of the road. Holly – lighten up, get some thicker skin or head over to Wall Street for on protest about it.
Now THIS is the sort of thing that makes SD look like a state on the cutting edge of culture and sophistication when people from other parts of the country drive by. Way to go knuckle-dragging coyote hunters (or, as “SDMike” suggests, “knuckle-dragging roadkill scavengers”)
Hey State, how about you use proper grammar. The headline should read “Dead coyote hung from USD, SDSU rivalry billboard”. Hanged is a verb used for the hanging of a human being. Not something hung from a billboard.
The Coyote could have hanged itself. Therefore the use of the word hanged in the headline is approved by I, President Chicoine’s Mustache. Go State!
Regardless of whether or not the coyote was killed or roadkill, this is a ludicrous act. As an SDSU Alum, I have a hard enough time convincing my out-of-state friends that South Dakota is an up-and-coming state without some backwoods hick throwing a dead animal over a billboard. Way to play into the stereotype.
Thanks, Kyle!
As a former SDSU Student in 1978-1979, and as a returning Student at USD from 1999 to 2001, Contemporary Media and Journalism Degree, I’d have to say this Ranks as one of the LOWEST Pranks to take place in this long-standing Rivalry…….Whether the Coyote was already “roadkill”, is irrelevant……Whether the animal was shot or roadkill, it’s Carcass shouldn’t be Mutilated for Public Display!
I LOVED the RIVALRY being a Student in the Late ’70′s and watching the Josh Mueller-fueled Basketball Comeback at the Dome in 2003 by the Coyotes, but this is NOT what the “Rivalry needs” as per Barry Davis!!
I also remember one of our SDSU players getting “clocked” by a Beer Bottle thrown at a 1979 Basketball game at the newly-opened Dome. The SDSU Player ended up in the Vermillion Hospital with a Concussion, and the Fraternity Brother/Fan who threw the bottle ended up kicked out of USD.
Mr. Davis, the SDSU-USD Rivalry is Alive and Well without demonstrations like this!