Forget the World Cup. This coyote has some serious moves. A backyard in the San Bernardino mountains has become the unlikely home field for a coyote with a thing for soccer. For weeks, the same wild coyote has been slipping into a man’s yard to play with a soccer ball. A Ring camera caught the whole thing, and it might be one of the cutest things you’ll see this week.
First, it flips the ball with its snout, then chases it down. It follows the ball everywhere, and then it keeps coming back for more, too. And the timing couldn’t be more perfect. With North America hosting the 2026 World Cup, this coyote apparently didn’t want to be left out.
The yard belongs to Dan Bartlett, who set up the camera to watch the local wildlife. He gets plenty: bears, foxes, and now a soccer-obsessed coyote. He told NBCLA the animal has been visiting for weeks, and he’s collected around two hours of its solo practice sessions. “I love looking out the window,” he said.
It’s the sort of clip that makes you smile and then wonder what’s actually going on. Why would a wild coyote spend its evenings juggling a soccer ball alone, though? Is it as harmless as it looks? The answers are a mix of charming and worth taking seriously.
Why the Coyote is Having Fun Playing Alone
The playing itself isn’t as strange as it seems. Coyotes are members of the dog family, and like dogs, they play, especially younger ones. Pouncing, tossing objects, and chasing things are natural behaviors that help them practice the moves they’d use to hunt. A rolling, bouncing soccer ball hits all of those buttons at once.
The ball is basically the perfect prey stand-in. It moves unpredictably, it’s about the right size to bat around, and it never gets tired of the game. For a lone coyote, that’s hours of entertainment with no downside. Bartlett’s footage of the same animal returning again and again suggests it simply found a toy it likes. Wild animals get bored too, and this one found its hobby.
Charming on Camera, But Still a Wild Animal
As fun as it is to watch, the coyote is still a wild predator. Bartlett has the right idea. He enjoys the show from inside and doesn’t go out to interact, which is exactly what wildlife experts recommend. A coyote that gets comfortable around people, or starts linking them with food, can become a problem. So it’s best to keep your distance, no matter how adorable it is.
The standard advice is straightforward. Never feed coyotes. Keep pets and small children from being outside unsupervised where coyotes roam, and secure the things that draw them in, like garbage, pet food, and fallen fruit. If one ever follows you, make yourself loud and big rather than running away from it. None of that has to spoil the fun of a soccer-playing coyote on camera. It just means the best seat in the house is the one Bartlett already found, safely on the other side of the glass.