She rushed to help a puppy covered in cacti, but it wasn't actually a puppy

A woman named Gwen Maxwell, 86, discovered a puppy (or what she thought was a normal puppy) struggling around her property. The poor thing was covered in cholla cactus and couldn't see clearly. When Maxwell got closer to the puppy, she realised the poor thing wasn't a puppy at all—it was in fact a coyote!

The coyote was struggling

It was clear that the coyote was struggling and in severe pain. Gwen stated:

I was shocked to see this little one tumbling over an over and over, covered head to foot with these little chunks of cholla.

The coyote puppy and his mother continued to stumble towards a nearby golf course whilst Maxwell was calling out for help.

Jose Soto, the golf course maintenance worker, heard her criesand came to the rescue with other fellow colleagues. They used a pair of pliers to remove the cactus spines from the coyote puppy.

Mom was watching the rescue

The puppy was bleeding because the cactus was deeply embedded in his skin. All along, the puppy's mother was close by and was watching as people were trying to rescue her pup.

Gwen stated that the mother knew exactly what was going on and that people were trying to rescue her puppy. After some time, all the cactus spines were removed and the puppy and his mother were able to go about their business as usual.

Check out the video above to see how Maxwell found the youngling!