Texas Gov. Rick Perry Shot Coyote on Morning Jog, Saving Family Dog

Watch out, cowboy -- the governor of Texas packs heat when he takes his morning jog (just in case he has to plug a coyote or two).

Gov. Rick Perry told The Associated Press he gunned down one of those varmints in February when the coyote interrupted his morning run in the wide open spaces outside of Austin and threatened the family dog, which was with him on the jog. "I holler and the coyote stopped. I holler again. By this time I had taken my weapon out and charged it," Perry told the AP, referring to his .380 Ruger handgun. "It is now staring dead at me. Either me or the dog are in imminent danger. I did the appropriate thing and sent it to where coyotes go."

The governor downed the animal with the laser-sighted pistol, loaded with hollow-point bullets, leaving the critter in the dust where it fell. "He became mulch," Perry said.

A Republican running for his third term, Perry said he carries a handgun on some of his jogs because he fears snakes. The encounter brought to mind President Jimmy Carter's account of fending off a large, aggressive rabbit that threatened his rowboat in 1979. Carter, unarmed, used a paddle to fight off the attack bunny. Amused reporters dubbed it the "Banzai Bunny" and folk artist Tom Paxton wrote a satirical song about it called "I Don't Want a Bunny Wunny."