Rabid animals do not come in for food. It looks like scrawny young coyote to me. Probably does have mange.
It’s a slight problem if it can be successfully treated. Untreated mange is horrendously uncomfortable and often painful. The degree of itching is so bad that the animals chew themselves to the point of injury, which leaves them very vulnerable to skin infections. There is also swelling, oozing and inflammation apart from self-inflicted injury. They tend to lose a lot of fur - that makes them vulnerable to sunburn and the elements. It’s really awful, incurable cases in domestic animals are usually euthanized because the quality of life is so bad. They just chew, lick and scratch all day with no relief.
Aww. Poor mangy animals. I had no idea.
Don’t most animals who see free food take it? or do you mean a coyote who was healthy wouldn’t come that close to people?
Unlikely. Not unless it were habituated. Coyotes are seriously shy and crafty, most normally. You might get shots via remote camera, but close within a dozen yards of a human in daylight? Highly unusual.
Sick animals, however, suffer reduced judgement, and their need for food is more important than their urge to be safe. Makes sick animals rather more dangerous.
But rabid animals… Well, they’re literally not in their right minds any more. After a point, their urge to eat goes bye-bye. They’re no longer working on survival - at that point, they’re malfunctioning machines.
Exactly. Animals that are rabid generally do not eat or drink due to complications of the disease. Even when they do it’s pretty easy to tell. Rabid animals act weird. Their eyes are not focused properly, they act erratic, stagger, bite everything in sight. That animal is probably sick, but not rabid.