bring our humanity New Insights into the world of our fellow travelers on this planet Earth….

Sharing here with you the words of esteemed ecologist George Schaller, writing of his experiences while researching Mountain Gorillas.

THE SAME HOLDS FOR COYOTES ~

“Only by looking at gorillas [coyotes] as living, feeling beings was I able to enter into the life of the group with comprehension, instead of remaining an ignorant spectator.”

                                                           HABITAT – HABITAT – HABITAT

There is ever increasing research pointing out that habitat can greatly affect the relationship between predators and their prey. When we change the landscape by logging  or development or building roads….and so many other ways, the relationship of our wild species can be affected, and many times, very seriously. Below is an article about pheasant hunting…hunters are seeing for themselves that protecting habitat, not killing carnivores, is the best way to support the presence of the species they wish to hunt.

https://www.pheasantsforever.org/Habitat/Why-Habitat/Pheasant-Facts/Effects-of-Predators.aspx

photo by Dave Conlin

“All of the ecological, biological, and other logical studies that public bureaus and private enterprise may forward, still will not bring “those authentic tidings of invisible things” that the lifted voice of the coyote brings in early evening while lighening bugs soften the darkness under the trees, or the voice of some other belonger to the rhythms of the earth brings in a simple tale of brother coyote.”  The Voice of the Coyote  by Frank Dobie

This little girl’s name is Willow, and you see her right after she had the opportunity to enjoy our Coyote and the Boy Ben puppet show. The story of a mother Coyote, her pup and the boy Ben is accompanied by the magical, original music of Maine musician, Elizabeth Starr. and the characters created by Maine artists Melissa Glendinning.

Willow is embracing the marionette of the mother Coyote [note the strings holding her up], but she knows she is not embracing a real Coyote. What she is embracing ~ is her new found connection with a wild being.

I think Loren Eisely in his book The Immense Journey expresses fully what this child is experiencing:
“It finally comes to me that this is the most enormous extension of vision of which life is capable ~ the projection of self into other lives.  It is far more than any spatial adventure, the supreme epitome of reaching out.”

photo by George Gove

I am Coyote in the City

Tryin to adapt, to survive

I am a fish out of the water

Tryin to breathe, and to thrive.

And you think

I don’t belong in your world

But I’m your sister, your brother

Hunted down by your guards

Armed with guns, with sedation

That will close my golden eyes

You try to silence my howling

My prowling,

My seeking,

My gasping

Until I finally curl

Into a ball

And I die

(Refrain)

But the echo will remain

Hear my voice from the mountain

Hear my cry from the plain

And it echoes from the canyons

In the rivers,

In the rain

And you think

I don’t belong in your world

But I’ll stay just the same

I will breathe

I‘ll survive

I will sing

I will thrive

Be your sister

Your brother

Love you like no other

You won’t silence my howling

My prowling,

My seeking,

My gasping

The echo of my voice

Will remain

(Refrain)

And the echo will remain

Hear my voice from the mountain

Hear my cry from the plain

And it echoes from the canyons

In the rivers,

In the rain

3/26/2010 © Ginny Freeman

Copying permission to Geri Vistein

BRAIDING SWEETGRASS ~ What does this marvelous book have to do with Coyote?
EVERYTHING!
Robin Wall Kimmerer is a Native American. She is a scientist ~ a botanist. And in this deeply moving book she takes us to a place of belonging … a belonging to the rest of creation. And that belonging takes us to a place of deep respect for all of creation… and a reciprocal responsibility to all of creation. This belonging, this respect guides our perspectives and our behaviors.

She speaks of species loneliness …. “this state of isolation and disconnection, stemmed from estrangement from the rest of creation, from the loss of relationship.” In our society we suffer deeply from species loneliness ….and we don’t even understand this within us.

 Coyote ~ Our Native Wild Dog is the litmus stick …..how we treat them, how we relate to them, is a guide to let us understand our disconnection and estrangement from the wondrous life on our planet.

Coyote will also let us know when we have shed that loneliness….for there are those who already have.

Have you ever had an “encounter” with a Coyote? 

“Encounter”…. what is it? Well, it is often defined as an “unexpected meeting.”  Because people in our culture have little knowledge and experience with Coyotes [or other wildlife for that matter] persons who do unexpectedly meet coyotes most often do not understand a Coyote’s natural behavior, and most often their perspective is the result of fear.

That person misses an opportunity to fully experience the nature of this wild being…and be enriched and delighted by it.

Sharing here two valuable commentaries on Coyote behavior~

http://thefurbearers.com/blog/three-behaviours-people-mistake-aggression-coyotes

http://www.motherearthnews.com/nature-and-environment/encounters-with-coyotes-zbcz-1608.aspx

How important is it to understand the REAL history of our country?  VASTLY IMPORTANT!

We cannot truly understand the perspectives held in our society today … and the behaviors that result, without understanding the perspectives and actions of those who came before us.

I highly encourage every American to read author Dan Flores’ new book Coyote America: a Natural and Supernatural History.  Most Americans have no idea of the all out war on our native carnivores that has taken place in the last 400 years, and in the West, the last 200 years. But despite the atrocities heaped on our Native Wild Canine ~ Coyote, they have survived!

Dan Flores tells the story of this incredibly successful species that will not allow us to annihilate them. Our continent holds one of Evolution’s Greatest Success Stories ~ Coyote!

Read below article written by National Geographic from a conversation with the author ~

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/08/coyote-america-dan-flores-history-science/

photo by Tambako

Spring and Summer is a time of birth ~

Rebirth of the wondrous array of plants and trees

Birth of farm animals under our care

Birth of wild ones like Coyotes and Cougars

Life in the wild is never easy and being a wild parent is a challenge to all their survival skills.

Sharing with you here a short film that takes us in to the secret life of a wild mother cougar and her pups. Coyotes parents, like the Cougar mother experience the whole gamut of life and death ~ the intimacy, the play and the loss. Most often we humans never see what the wild parents go through, but our actions can have a powerful effect on their lives … causing life or death. Here is just a small glimpse of their wild world.

photo by Jim Hackley

When a wildlife tragedy occurs ….

I always want to take it as an opportunity to educate, and not point fingers. And so, a wildlife tragedy occurred in Chappaqua, New York this month of June. As the story has been told, a female coyote killed a person’s dog and was aggressive to another dog being walked on a leash in a comfortable development over seen by the homeowners association.

The immediate response was to call up Federal Wildlife Service to come, trap, and kill whatever coyote landed in the trap.  And they did so without delay, saying that the coyote they killed they thought was “the one!”

This knee jerk response to kill our fellow beings has no place in a society where education regarding our native wild dogs is available in perfusion. But why educate oneself…killing is easier. This sad event reminds me of another event that took place just a few years ago in Ohio when Wildlife Services decided to kill a coyote for some unknown reason of their own, saying that she had rabies. Well….she didn’t! It just so happened that it was May, and she was the alpha mother who had just given birth to her pups.

This family of coyotes lived in the Cleveland Metroparks, visited by many people…biking, hiking picnicking, etc. No one ever saw any member of this Coyote family. They were very reclusive. But after the mother coyote of this family was killed, the whole family went “into chaos” as the lead biologist described it.  Once never seen by people, they began running after people on bikes. But….instead of killing the coyotes, the biologists roped off their territory, not allowing any person to be there. They then allowed the coyote family to recover from their loss, and they reverted back to their reclusive behavior once again.

Such a difference between Cleveland, Ohio and Chappaqua, New York!

So the question is ~ why was this coyote in New York aggressive? Was that question ever asked? What time of the year is it.? Oh…pup raising time! Coyotes, like all canines love their pups, and are very protective of their little ones….especially from domestic dogs. Was there a den near by, that she was seeking to protect? What small changes in human behavior would have given the coyotes their sense of safety?

What could have been different in Chappaqua?  What have they taught their children?

Killing is the answer!  

They could  have taught them to ask:   How should we change OUR behavior?