Renowned author, speaker and former park ranger Bob Richard of Cody has countless tales to tell of Yellowstone National Park, but perhaps none are as heartwarming and strange as the story of Jimmy Coyote and Molly Elk.
The two critters were old and all but toothless during the winter of 1954-1955. By the rules of nature, they should have died. But the caretaker at Old Faithful took pity upon them and started feeding them pancakes.
‘It’s How They Survived’
Richard had only a brief encounter with Molly Elk and Jimmy Coyote, but he still remembers it clearly.
In February 1955, Richard was 17. His father had helped organize a photography trip into Yellowstone, sponsored by the Wyoming Game and Fish Department and the National Park Service. Richard went along, charged with getting photographs for the local newspaper.
They rode snowmobiles into the park from Jackson. When they reached Old Faithful, they discovered that the site caretaker had been nursing Molly and Jimmy through the winter as best he could.
“He had a cow elk that had been coming in, and he started feeding her pancakes,” Richard said. “Then a coyote came through, and the caretaker said he noticed that the coyote didn’t have any teeth left.”
Richard said both animals appeared to be old and thin, but still in good spirits as they came in for their food. So, he and the others gathered to watch them eat pancakes.
And while in their prime Jimmy would be more likely to hunt and eat Molly, he was then too old and toothless to manage that. So, they tolerated each other.
“They were past being skittish about people. They were comfortable with us sitting there, watching,” he said. “They wouldn’t eat out of the same container though.”
Molly and Jimmy owed the kindhearted caretakers their lives, or at least for prolonging them by a few more months.
“The were just old, tired. And between the green grass that was still growing in the areas where they ground was warm from thermal activity, and what the caretaker gave them, that’s how they survived,” Richard said.
An old, toothless coyote named Jimmy gobbles pancakes near the Old Faithful in Yellowstone National Park in February 1955. (Courtesy McCracken Research Library, Buffalo Bill Center of the West) 
A cow elk named Molly is fed pancakes in February 1955 at Old Faithful in Yellowstone National Park. Jimmy the coyote waits in the background for his share. (Courtesy McCracken Research Library, Buffalo Bill Center of the West) 
Visitors to Old Faithful Inn in Yellowstone National Park watch as Molly the elk and Jimmy the coyote – both old and toothless – are fed pancakes in February 1955. (Courtesy McCracken Research Library, Buffalo Bill Center of the West)
Well-Intended, But Not A Good Idea
After that brief encounter, Richard said he has no idea what happened to Molly Elk and Jimmy Coyote. He assumes they lived out the rest of their lives in peace.
And while it was heartwarming to see the caretaker’s act of compassion, he supports the park’s policy of not feeding wildlife.
It was technically forbidden even in 1955, but people were looser about the rules back then, he said.
“You were never supposed to feed the bears. You were never supposed to feed any animals and get that close to them,” Richard said.
Later, when working as a park ranger, Richard did what he could to keep tourists from handing out snacks to Yellowstone’s critters.
“It was always a problem to keep traffic moving and to discourage the people from giving the animals any food whatsoever,” he said. “Yellowstone has always been a place where animals have connected with humans.”
But he likes the rule of humans staying back, admiring animals from a distance through binoculars or telephoto lenses.
That keeps the wildlife safe and healthy, and also saves people from getting hurt, Richard said.
And yet even to this day some animals, such as Limpy the coyote, try to play on tourists’ emotions in hopes of getting handouts.
“If they’re hungry, some animals will come down by the road, and the tourists think, ‘Oh, that poor animal,’” Richard said. “I call it the ‘Disney syndrome.’ People think the animals are tame. But they’re not. Tourists need to stay in their cars.”
Mark Heinz can be reached at mark@cowboystatedaily.com.
