This time, the coyote actually caught the roadrunner
Talk about perfect movie publicity. After decades of Wile E. Coyote failing spectacularly to catch the Road Runner, Southern California just produced the real-life version — except this time, the coyote appears to have won.
Birdwatcher Alexander deBarros was conducting a bird survey with the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power at the Chatsworth Nature Preserve when he spotted a coyote moving through the area with something in its mouth. He fired off a few quick photos, then looked closer.
Yep. A greater roadrunner.
The encounter happened on August 29, 2026, and it was strange enough on its own. Then came the Hollywood connection that makes the entire thing feel almost scripted.
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Beep Beep, But Make It Real
A rare SoCal wildlife encounter lands during the same weekend Coyote vs. Acme hits theaters. Sometimes Los Angeles writes the promo campaign itself.
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Alexander deBarros thought he had seen just about everything
DeBarros has been studying birds since he was 10 and now leads monthly bird walks with the San Fernando Valley Audubon Society. According to the KTLA report, he can identify and even mimic a wide range of bird species around Southern California.
But during the Chatsworth survey, he saw something that stopped him cold. He told KTLA he took a couple of quick pictures simply to confirm what he thought he was seeing. Once he reviewed them, there was no mistaking it: the coyote had a roadrunner in its mouth.
Real coyotes can outrun roadrunners — cartoons lied to us
Here is the part Chuck Jones never needed for the joke: in real life, a coyote can actually run faster than a greater roadrunner.
That does not mean roadrunners are standard coyote cuisine. Coyotes are opportunistic feeders and generally go after whatever food is easiest to access, often small and medium-sized mammals. A fast, agile roadrunner is simply harder work.
But if the bird is caught off guard, injured or otherwise vulnerable, nature is not checking the Looney Tunes rulebook first.
Then the story somehow gets even more Hollywood
DeBarros sent the photo to his father, animator Brian Mainolfi. Mainolfi’s first Hollywood job was working with legendary animator Chuck Jones, the filmmaker behind the Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner cartoons.
And the timing? The real-life encounter happened the same weekend Coyote vs. Acme opened in theaters on August 28.
Mainolfi told KTLA that when his son texted him the image, he laughed and pointed out that the long-delayed Looney Tunes movie had just opened. DeBarros apparently had not even realized the timing.
Coyote vs. Acme itself had already lived through its own impossible chase. Warner Bros. shelved the completed film in 2023 before Ketchup Entertainment later acquired it and finally put it into theaters. Its opening weekend landed at No. 2 domestically with about $15.9 million.
Is this really the first photograph of its kind?
After seeing his son’s photo, Mainolfi searched online and said he could not find a verified photograph of a real coyote consuming a greater roadrunner.
That is a terrific detail, but an important distinction remains: KTLA says it has not independently verified that this is the first photograph ever documenting such an encounter. So we are not crowning it world-first evidence just yet.
What is confirmed is plenty remarkable: a longtime SoCal birder photographed a coyote carrying a greater roadrunner at the Chatsworth Nature Preserve, his animator father once worked with the man behind the cartoon rivalry, and it happened just as the newest Wile E. Coyote movie reached theaters.
Los Angeles, you ridiculous place. Never change.
Watch KTLA’s Rare Real-Life Coyote and Roadrunner Encounter Report
KTLA reporter Rachel Menitoff speaks with Alexander deBarros and his father about the Chatsworth sighting, the Chuck Jones connection and why the image is so unusual.
Sources: KTLA 5; Alexander deBarros; Ketchup Entertainment.
