WENTZVILLE, Mo., Oct. 5 (UPI) -- Hunting coyotes led searchers to a missing 2-year-old Missouri boy.
Moscow Mills Police Officer Mike Runge told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that he recognized the distinctive wail of a coyote.
"Coyotes hunt in packs, and when they hear something in distress, they call each other in," Runge said. "So I started believing that we were both hunting the same thing."
The volunteers were looking for Tristram Webber, who had wandered away from his family's backyard in Wentzville a few hours earlier.
Runge and some other searchers decided to let the coyote be their guide. Some time later they heard more signals.
"The coyotes were coming together as if they were stalking something, so we started tracking the coyotes, hoping they would lead us to the boy," Runge said.
After frightening two coyotes away from the scene, they began calling for Tristram. Soon they heard the boy asking "Will you take me home?" and found him huddled under a fallen tree, with nothing worse than scrapes and insect bites after his eight-hour ordeal.
