He found this curled up in his Kennewick kitchen. Then he saw the teeth

KENNEWICK –A Kennewick homeowner had a wild — but cute — surprise waiting for him after he got home from work Monday.

Jake McChesney got to his Klamath Avenue house east of Kamiakin High School around 2:30 p.m. and saw his dog messing with a plant in the corner of his kitchen.

Then he heard “a sound of unwanted attention.”

“I said, ‘What is that?’ “ McChesney said. He took a look and saw what he thought was a puppy.

Then he looked a little closer.

“I realized it was a coyote,” McChesney said.

The young coyote must have got in through the pet door, McChesney said.

He figured the the pup was hiding from his dog, Sonny, a German Shepherd-Akita mix that “wanted to play a little too much,” McChesney said.

The worker from Columbia Basin Ice tried to get closer to see if it was hurt.

“I saw how scared (the pup) was and didn’t see him coming at me as long as I didn’t startle him,” McChesney said. “Then the plant moved, and he did that hiss and I was like, well, screw that!”

He knew he needed professional help.

The Humane Society was closed, and an official from the state Fish and Wildlife Department said the agency doesn’t handle coyotes.

“I could attempt to get it out myself or hire a trapper,” he was told. “I said, ‘You mean shoot him?’”

The official confirmed he could, within certain restrictions.

“I was like, ‘I’m not going to blow a hole through my wall with my shotgun and kill an eight-week-old coyote!’” McChesney said.

Out of options, McChesney called 911 and got Kennewick police. Longtime Officer Jim Valdez arrived in five minutes.

Valdez was cautious walking into the house, McChesney said. “Then he realized it was just a pup. I think he thought he was going to be seeing a full-sized coyote with his hair standing straight-up, growling.”

Valdez made several calls — and took a few photos — before he got a trapper to come out and cage the animal without harming it.

“He was like, no one’s gonna believe this,” McChesney said.

The coyote was to be released Monday night in the Horse Heaven Hills, McChesney said. Police said the pup’s mom should find it after some howling.