Coyote Finally Catches Road Runner In Wild LA Photo

CHATSWORTH, CA — On "Looney Tunes," Wile E. Coyote may have spent decades coming up short, but one of his real-life counterparts apparently had better luck in the San Fernando Valley.

Bird enthusiast and photographer Alexander deBarros captured a photo Aug. 29 of a coyote running with something in its mouth on the outskirts of Los Angeles.

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"My photo revealed that something to be a greater roadrunner," deBarros wrote on Instagram.

"I don't know which of his convoluted contraptions finally worked!" he joked, referencing the frequent failed attempts by Wile E. Coyote to catch the Road Runner on "Looney Tunes."

DeBarros said coyotes can run about twice as fast as roadrunners and are among the predators known to hunt them. He also raised the possibility that the encounter was unusually rare to capture on camera.

"It appears that a Coyote has never before been photographed eating a Roadrunner," he wrote. "Is this history making?!?"

The sighting happened at the Chatsworth Nature Preserve while deBarros was conducting a bird survey with the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, KTLA reported.

DeBarros told the station he snapped a few quick photos to determine what the coyote was carrying before it disappeared over a hill.

The timing came with another cartoon-worthy coincidence. DeBarros' father, animator Brian Mainolfi, told KTLA his first Hollywood job was working with Chuck Jones, who created the Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner characters.

The encounter also happened the same weekend "Coyote vs. Acme," featuring the famed animated rivals, opened in theaters.