rescued pitbull

TODAY I READ TWO STORIES ABOUT DOGS …

The first was about Dukey, a beloved Labrador who had cancer, and spent the last day of his happy life being showered with love and comfort….and then he was lovingly and respectfully put to rest.

The second was about Pit Bulls and the abuse and suffering  and prejudice they experience at the hands of humans. The photo you see here is a young Pit Bull rescued from the cruel fighting rings. Look at the wounds all over her face.

These two stories tell us something of our humanity that should haunt us. All dogs ….all dogs…..are amazing beings that we humans get to share this planet with. Yet we pick and choose those we respect and love and those we allow to be tortured and abused.

I ask you……WHO GAVE THE PITBULL THEIR NAME?  YES IT WAS HUMANS…IT TRULY WAS NOT THEIR MAKER. THEIR MAKER HAS ANOTHER NAME FOR THEM.  How we treat this one breed of dog is a reflection of ourselves as humans. We demonize them……but who is the demon in the mirror? No other dog is so vilified in the media; no other dog so discriminated against; no other dog so frequently abused; no other dog likely to be killed.

EVERY YEAR IN THIS COUNTRY 1.2 MILLION WONDERFUL DOGS ARE KILLED IN SHELTERS……..800,000 TO 1 MILLION OF THEM ARE PITBULLS.

So……Coyote is a Dog…..a wild American dog……  How do we treat Coyote? Do we carry on the same demonizing of Coyote as we do with our Pit Bulls? Let’s repeat what I wrote about our Pit Bulls….. Coyote….no other wildlife so vilified in the media, no other wildlife so discriminated against, no other wildlife so persecuted, no other wildlife so brutally killed.

ARE WE EVOLVING AS A SPECIES……ASK A PITBULL…ASK A COYOTE    WHAT WOULD THEIR ANSWER BE?

Raju being freed of chains

IF YOU HAVE NOT READ ABOUT RAJU’S RESCUE…SEEK IT OUT!

In short, he was poached from his mother when he was just a baby and has spent the last 50 years of his life being abused and tortured and starved. On the 4th of July he was rescued in India and is now in a Sanctuary there. The photo you see here is showing the removal of the chains and metal spikes that cut into his leg.

As I read about Raju’s tragic life, again I observed what humans are capable of in creating immense suffering in other intelligent, feeling life. But at the same time there are humans who use every possible course to end this suffering. It is so evident in this story.

BUT COYOTE’S STORY IS NO DIFFERENT THAN RAJU’S. There is so much violence to both species in the name of TRADITION and  “THIS IS JUST HOW THINGS ARE.”  Raju in chains and Coyote in leghold traps.

We want to evolve as a species …… and that evolution will express itself in our respect for all life….. and as a society to NOT TOLERATE cruelty to other beings … and that includes our fellow humans.

If Elephants and Coyotes could speak…..What would they want to tell us?

Raju and Rescuer

photo by Jerry Mercier

I was in the forest hiking the other day in one of my favorite spots. Usually I hike around a big loop and my hike is completed. But on this particular day, I decided to turn around and go back the way I came…the hike would be longer that way…and I did not want to leave this wonderful place just as yet.

I found that on the way back, my point of view had changed, and I saw everything that was so familiar to me in a different way. In fact, I almost got myself lost, not noticing the turn I would want to take back.

It made me think ~ How we see the world, depends on where we are standing. And where we are standing is powerfully affected by our beliefs. Our beliefs are powerful, so powerful that we cannot live, or see or experience anything outside our own individual beliefs.

SO CAUTION HERE ~ Be careful not to limit your beliefs, and don’t allow them to dominate your life. Because in doing so, you are not allowing yourself to broaden your beliefs and therefore to see the world and its life from different perspectives.

SO COYOTE GIVES US A CHANCE TO BROADEN OUR BELIEFS and see other life and our relationship to it in a whole new light. Are we open and alive to discover this amazing wild being who lives among us?

The next time you take a hike,  turn around and come back the way you came…..look to see how your perspective is different…

photo by Jerry Mercier

COYOTE ~ THE SURVIVOR

This poignant scene by photographer Jerry Mercier opens a window of survival for us humans to look into. Here Coyote is striving to take some minimal nourishment from the frozen leg bone of a deer….the flesh long since gone from it.

In Winter, carnivores starve to death ….and only the strong survive. As we ourselves move through the hardships of Winter, our respect for these amazing carnivores heightens.

And that is why it is so unthinkable that as a society we permit laws that allow their killing and exploitation when Coyotes are on the edge of survival in the Winter.

Farmers and Ranchers who understand survival seek to keep the Coyotes on their farms protected from human exploitation….. As rancher, Dayton Hyde, wrote in his classic book, Don Coyote, “They (Coyotes) had a sanctuary where they could hunt without being shot at and could concentrate not on staying alive, but on taking prey. Thus, throughout the course of a 24 hour period, our Coyotes could spend more time hunting because their diets were not limited to nocturnal species, and their ‘scrounging’ success was higher than that of coyotes suffering persecution.”

What Dayton Hyde understood so well was that human  behavior greatly affects Coyote behavior. And if he was to live well with his Coyotes, his Coyotes needed to be treated with respect….and given the opportunity to survive.

Winter Magic

WINTER IS HERE ….SNOW AND ICE AND WIND AND COLD…and Sunshine!

We have had our share of ICE this winter already… and with it comes a different kind of WALKING…YES? Our gaze tends to be looking down to where we will be taking the next step.

But I was out hiking the other day, and I looked up at the trees that were covered with ice… I was walking toward the bright sunshine that was shining through the ice….and the ice on the trees was a display of magical beauty. BUT, when I turned around to return, and the sun was on my back, I know longer saw the display of ice magic…..

SO I THOUGHT…..FROM WHAT PERSPECTIVE DO YOU VIEW OTHER LIFE?  You can either see wonder and beauty or you can see fear or you can see nothing.

What do you see when you see Coyote…..are you looking into the sun….or is your back turned away from it….?

photo by Jerry Mercier

Have you ever noticed the GLOBAL RESPONSE OF HUMANITY to a Facebook page or a craigslist story of violence and cruelty to our dogs?  Here is an example of one~

http://gma.yahoo.com/blogs/abc-blogs/craigslist-post-inspires-others-help-save-battered-pit-100111403–abc-news-topstories.html

Why this swift and widespread response?  Though all those who respond may not be aware of it….it is really about OUR ONENESS WITH ALL LIFE. The suffering and abuse of another being is very connected to us…..and their rescue and healing and happiness brings forth well-being in us.

It is also interesting that the breed of Pit Bull, because they are a strong and powerful dog physically, is so vulnerable to man’s cruelty. Do you know that 3,000 of them a year are euthanized in the state of California alone. What is it about our humanity that we allow immensely cruel people to breed and abuse them…..then we fear them…..then we euthanize them…..BUT when we hear the story of ONE WHO HAS A NAME…. we feel very connected to them?

SO IT IS WITH COYOTE ~ WHY DO WE ALLOW VIOLENT PEOPLE TO ABUSE AND KILL THEM….WHY DO WE FEAR THEM….AND WHY DO SO MANY OF YOU HAVE GREAT COMPASSION ON THEM?  Each one of them has a Name too.

Wild Mustangs

And why do I speak of Wild Mustangs…?

  Well, I want to encourage you to read this riveting and deeply researched book called: “America’s Last Wild Horses” by Author Hope Ryden.  I have added it to the reading list on this website.

Hope Ryden is a woman just like Jane Goodall, but instead of chimpanzees in far away Africa, she focused on our native wildlife here in the New World ~ Coyotes and Wild Mustangs. Her book detailing her research on Coyotes, “God’s Dog” is already on my reading list here….it is one book every American should read.

Wild Mustangs and Coyotes have experienced violent persecution and cruelty at the hands of the greedy and self interested people who have come before us, but still live among us. I have found as a I travel around Maine and give my presentations to our communities, that most Americans have NO knowledge of what our government agencies inflict on our wildlife…and they do so at the bidding of the powerful and greedy.  We need to know about these things before we can change the future.

Also both Coyote and the Wild Mustangs are spoken of as “non-native” species by those who would find every reason possible to slaughter them.  But the truth is….both these species are  TRULY AMONG THE MOST NATIVE. The species of horse, from whom our Wild Mustangs descended, originated  in the New World, and in time traveled to Asia. But they returned again to the New World, along with the invading Europeans. As for Coyote, there is no more native wildlife….they have lived here always, and been no where else on the earth.

I encourage you to read Hope Ryden’s book regarding our Wild Mustangs. It is an historic perspective that Americans need to know about, before we can shift our behavior and our laws, and before we stop tolerating THROUGH OUR SILENCE the greed of the few and the suffering of our wildlife. As Americans we really need to look at our history in its true light, in order to create a new Vision for the future.

Believe it or not….  This is a photo, not a painting of Coyote

What the photographer, Jerry Mercier, has expressed in this photograph is a sense of Coyote’s belonging to the landscape she is resting in….but not only belonging, but being a part of it.

But it is not only her physical presence, but her song that fills the landscape with a rich and true wholeness. In his book, “The Great Animal Orchestra”, Bernie Krause expresses his thought that the healthier a habitat is, the more “musical” the creatures, and the richer and more diverse their scores. So, sound complexity is a measure of the health of the land.

And in his book he celebrates this amazing symphony that surrounds us…if only we would listen….and we too celebrate its wonder.  Enter Coyote ~ the Songdog … Coyote’s Symphony!  Do you here it, do you truly hear it…and what it means?

I remember one night many years ago, the loons began to sing on the pond near where I lived. And before I knew it, Coyote could not resist joining in the song….Coyote and Loons in musical duo….it was a magic moment I will never forget!

And what happens when that Symphony is silenced?  As I travel around Maine in my work many Maine people have expressed to me a deep sense of loss when the songs of Coyote that they delighted in, were silenced ….when they were cruelly killed…and the silence was empty.

So support the Songs of Nature….do let them be silenced.

Seabiscuit…Coyote… and Us

If you haven’t viewed the film, “Seabiscuit” as yet, I highly recommend that you do. And what does  Seabiscuit have to do with Coyote? Well…. I would say ….a great deal.

If you watch the film, you will learn that Seabiscuit was discounted at birth, severely abused and remained an  Underdog until his true nature  was understood by his owner, his trainer and his jockey.

Those who recognized Seabiscuit for who he really was, had suffered many losses in their own lives,  were they themselves  “broken”.  But their relationship with Seabiscuit healed their lives. And what was powerful as well…..helped to heal the suffering that Americans were going through in the Great Depression.   People saw themselves  as underdogs, and related deeply to this little horse that survived all the abuse of his early life, and went on to show what was really in him.

Coyote ~ photo by Jacques Tournel

So Coyote….. has been the underdog on our American continent ever since the Europeans set foot here….the society that followed, never recognizing Coyote’s true nature. We live in a society today that often isolates us, that diminishes our understanding of our own power, that fills us with things, but leaves our spirits empty. So, let yourself come to understand the true nature of Coyote…and your life will be enriched.

Cheer on America’s wild dog…Coyote…just as the Americans all over our country, cheered on Seabiscuit

with permission of Deborah Simon and St. Anne's Warehouse

Believe it or not….

These are puppets representing two coyote mates, created by sculptor and puppet creator, Deborah Simon.

They are the main characters of a play called Coyote Pursues that was presented in St. Anne’s Warehouse in Brooklyn, New York.

The Coyotes are presented as true wild coyotes pursuing their prey…and in this case …a rabbit.

If we are lucky….and find the right theater….and the funds, they will be coming to Maine next Summer.

The arts are wonderful teachers. They teach to every part of who we a re as humans, not just our head…which is often blind to the wonders of our planet Earth.

To view a short commentary regarding Coyote Pursues click on this link: 

http://vimeo.com/12765403