2013 Field Updates & News

31 December 2013. How to deal with those darned deer. My editorial is the first one (of five) appearing in the Washington Post and it discusses eastern coyotes as potential predators of overabundant deer herds.

 

31 December 2013. Who are the wanton killers. Yet another good article (this one by John Laundré) about the hatred shown by people toward predators and how state game agencies allow the slaughter of important species like coyotes.

 

28 December 2013. Wolf haters… Great article in the NY Times about the irrational wolf management in Idaho. I can’t believe state game agencies are allowed to manage wolves given the known hatred that their hunting constituents have toward them.

 

19 December 2013. Meet the coywolf. This exciting documentary will be on PBS Nature January 22, 2014. It first appeared in Canada last year. It does a pretty accurate job describing this animal, especially with my colleague Brad White appearing in the film.

 

16 December 2013. Craigslist ad for hunters to come shoot coyotes/coywolves on his property. This is here in eastern MA. The person that emailed me said that they called the state wildlife people and they said that this ad was perfectly legal. This is absolutely amazing in this day and age. Some of these animals look like wolves too which would be in direct violation of the Endangered Species Act. We desperately need a Carnivore Conservation Act both here in MA and nationally.

 

15 December 2013. Carnivores in our midst: should we fear them? A well written article by Dr. Marc Bekoff. Short answer, no we should not.

 

5 December 2013. What a wonderful world. A very uplifting 2 min video by a world famous nature host, Sir David Attenborough. Well worth the watch.

 

2 December 2013. Redecorating nature: have we really killed too rarely? By Marc Bekoff. I have to agree with Dr. Bekoff’s theme of the article that it is entirely feasible to coexist with urban wildlife. As long as people are willing to coexist with wildlife, it is very easy to live with them. Me, personally, I am thrilled when deer, foxes, coywolves, turkeys, and fisher are in my neighborhood and even backyard. I am amazed that people, like the author of the Time article to which Marc’s rebutts, don’t feel that way.

 

30 November 2013. Man in South Carolina saves coyote pup on road side and uses it as an education animal in the classroom. It is nice to see that some states give permits for legit educational opportunities.

 

29 November 2013. Guard dogs reduce killing of threatened carnivore species. This is an important article about the feasibility of coexisting with predators.

 

27 November 2013. Important new publication available on my publications page. Last summer, 2012, a scientific paper came (please refer to my June 22, 2012 post on this subject) out that basically claimed that the presence of coyotes in the East has increased the incidence of Lyme disease because they prey on foxes whom are supposedly more effective predators of rodents, which are one of the main vectors of Lyme disease. Many national sources reported on this finding such as Scientific American and even some hunting groups. In the following paper, myself and a colleague disagree with their reasoning in this new paper. We use 6 lines of evidence to support our claim.

 

November 23, 2013. Legislator in PA wants a coyote bounty. I am glad that I was able to be quoted about how nonsensical this proposal is. Of course, this man is a Republican but wants a special handout for his hunting friends showing the hypocrisity of his and many other like minded values.

 

November 21, 2013. Federal Officials Request Assistance in Sixth Gunshot Red Wolf: Reward up to $26,000. This is a sad state of affairs for the federally protected red wolf. Yet the state of NC and the USFWS do nothing to protect a very close relative, the coyote. And they wonder why wolves keep getting illegally killed. There quite obviously needs to be a national carnivore conservation act to protect all carnivores.

 

November 19, 2013. Michigan Natural Resources Dept throws away comments that were overwhelmingly against wolf hunting. I have said for many years that wildlife management in its current form is one of the most undemocratic forms of government imaginable. This is a perfect illustration of that.

 

November 18, 2013. Unbelievable: man in Montana shoots a domestic dog thinking that it is a wolf and he is not going to get in trouble because he supposedly accidentally killed it. What is wrong with society when people can buy hunting licenses and not have any accountability for their actions? Sorry to the dog and its owner that had to go thru this experience.

 

November 18, 2013. Understanding coyote howls, yips could have wider implications.

 

November 15, 2013. Really cool story about 2 of my loves: running and coyotes. A coyote races alongside cross country runners in Arizona. No harm, no foul…

 

November 7, 2013. Good editorial on why the U.S. Government should not remove wolves from the Endangered Species List.

 

November 6, 2013. Ranchers insistence on cheap grazing keeps wolves in the crosshairs.

 

November 5, 2013. “Coyotes” getting fed in Cape Cod National Seashore. This is a sad situation as these beautiful animals look just like eastern wolves, which makes sense since they are wolf x coyote hybrids (i.e., all eastern coyotes are). Even more disturbing is that people are supposedly hunting them across the street from the parking lot (500 feet away). How sporting especially in a national park where hunting is not supposed to occur.

 

November 1, 2013. Canadian government scientists feel muzzled and can’t speak freely. This is scary stuff but I bet carnivore biologists in the U.S. feel the same way, especially people studying canids (wolves and coyotes). For instance, read this related story here on scientists being excluded from a wolf peer review process.

 

October 30, 2013. The war against wolves and wildlife. A great article written by canid defender Camilla Fox. It shows scores of graphic images including this racist photo of a group of hunters proudly holding up a shot wolf in KKK hats. Without a national carnivore conservation act, people like this are effectively in charge of wildlife management in their states. Read the comments under that Facebook photo and you will be disgusted. To me they are the opposite of the Patriots that they think they are: they are cowards and are anti-American to feel such hate against a native species. I have always said that carnivore hunting in its present form reminds me so much of racism and this article illustrates that perfectly. I just found a second and another very well written article on the same Facebook photo. And, finally, here is a 3rd article discussing this incident as well as other similar incidents to illustrate how the hatred of wolves is indeed very similar to the violence against civil rights activists 50 years ago, with striking similarities of ignorance and hate. And our state game agencies just sit back and let this happen.

 

October 30, 2013. Story on the legendary El Chupacabra in Mississippi. This animal is clearly a coyote; the lack of education on wildlife is clearly alarming as this is actually a news source article not the National Inquirer. Thanks goodness that 2 state agents spoke accurately that this was simply a coyote with mange – not a mythical beast – and to stay away from it.

 

October 25, 2013. Coyotes are moose killers. Fascinating study of eastern coyotes (coywolves) that found that they can bring moose down, similar to wolves. I am assuming that when they refer to coyote – wolf hybrids that they are talking about the eastern coyote or coywolf. Update Nov. 15: I should’ve noted this earlier, but I am wrong: the article is discussing hybrids of hybrids most: that is, eastern coyote or coywolves x eastern wolves. They are animals intermediate in size to eastern (not western) coyotes and eastern wolves. These hybrid-hybrid animals only occur at the edge of Algonquin Park in Ontario; south of that region, the eastern coyote or coywolf is found.

 

October 21, 2013. The plight of the wolves of Isle Royale. This is a cool 7 min video on the small population of inbred wolves inhabiting this island in the middle of Lake Superior.

 

October 21, 2013. My redesigned website has been on a WordPress Template for a year now and already has 182,000 “hits”. Hopefully it is reaching out to the public to help with coywolf and coyote education, appreciation, and conservation!

 

October 18, 2013. Colorado man fends off 3 coyotes that attack him. Another article on the story can be found here. I don’t know any more of this unfortunate event but luckily the man is recovering. It would seem that the animals had an unnatural habituation to people or a disease like rabies for something like this to occur. Update Oct. 30: The animals did not have rabies.

 

October 18, 2013. Great pictures of coyotes in San Francisco. Kudos to Janet Kessler for getting these awesome images!

 

October 16, 2013. This has nothing to do with coyotes but had to post it or even my favorite sports teams in Boston… Philadelphia Eagles Pro football player Connor Barwin is very environmentally conscious, riding his bike to work (practice) and taking the bus to travel around cities. Good to see rich, prominent people putting their money where their mouth is, so to speak.

 

October 14, 2013. Wolf killing makes a mockery of the North American Model of Wildlife Management. This is a very well written article using wolves as a model but it really applies to all predators, especially coyotes, whom can be shot and trapped quite liberally but for no real management objectives. This needs to change and be revised, and the author does a great job of highlighting the conflict of interest that comes upon state wildlife agencies to manage predators – when their money currently comes from hunters that compete for the same prey, yet represent a minority of the citizenry.

 

October 11, 2013. Government’s war on wildlife exposed. A great interview with Brooks Fahy of Predator Defense showing the brutal and unnecessary actions of the US government’s inappropriately named “Wildlife Services”. This is an agency that needs to seriously be reformed or abolished. In an era of economic collapse why is the government essentially paying welfare to millions of farmers and ranchers? It makes no sense and should be abolished immediately.

 

September 19, 2013. Well known bear killed in Ely, Minnesota. This story is unfortunate and all too often true. A hunter kills a study subject (in this case a bear), and the state of MN does nothing to protect the bear but continues to try and take the famous bear researcher’s permit away. I know exactly how that feels. It is obvious that state agencies do not want new information, especially about predators, to alter their ideology that hunters own the wildlife and every other user (wildlife watcher) comes after them. How undemocratic.

 

September 18, 2013. The howl of the eastern timber wolf. A cool NPR story about listening for wolf howls in Algonquin Park, Ontario.

 

September 9, 2013. Dances with wild wolves: Rally at the National Mall. A great event on 9/7/13 to tell the U.S. Government that state agencies should not be in charge of wolf management, especially out west where it is obvious that hatred and special interest groups are dictating wolf management and allowing them to literally be slaughtered.

 

September 9, 2013. Are red wolves worth the trouble? A very well written article on the red wolves currently living in the wild in North Carolina.

 

September 9, 2013. Wolves need protection to fully recover. A very well written article from the Salt Lake Tribune.

 

August 29, 2013. Lone Wolf. A very long article about wolf OR7, a wolf that was born in Oregon and traveled hundreds of miles into California. It is now back in Oregon. It is a good article, just very long.

 

August 28, 2013. Teen survives first confirmed wolf attack in Minnesota. This story shows just how rare attacks from wolves (and coyotes) are. I applaud the rational (and non-sensational) article for highlighting facts and not hysteria. Luckily the injuries appear to be non-life threatening.

 

August 27, 2013. What is a coywolf? A short article from LiveScience.com explaining what this creature is.

 

August 16, 2013. Wolves Under Review. A great Op-Ed by the New York Times explaining the flawed and bias politics of the US Fish and Wildlife Service wanting to get out of protecting wolves. This is from my Aug. 8 post explaining that the USFWS is weeding out reviewers of the delisting process that don’t agree with them – that is, that delisting should occur.

 

August 16, 2013. Delaware proposal would allow hunting of coyotes. While this is at least a reasonable hunting season (4 months), it yet again ignores the ecological benefits of having a predator around. Deer run rampant in areas like Delaware and here is an animal that can at least partially control them, but yet again people that are scared of and ignorant about their ecology win it. Some of the quotes in the article are perplexing, and clearly show the ecological ignorance of many people.

 

August 16, 2013. Jane Goodall offers support to famous MN bear researcher, Lynn Rogers. While I feel very bad for Dr. Rogers, this is not too surprising. His research is revolutionary as he and his colleagues follow wild wolves around the woods, documenting their true (non-threatening to people) behavior. Yet MN would rather have a hand-full of hunters shoot the bears he studies rather than not allowing hunting on his study site, a relatively small section of the federally owned Superior National Forest.  My guess is that biologists within the state of MN are jealous of his work and are following the corrupt trail of sole funding from hunters to support their salaries – yet, wildlife resources are supposed to belong to all people.

 

August 8, 2013. Wolf delisting shell game begins. This is pretty scary stuff that the US Fish and Wildlife Service is hand selecting peer reviews so they get the preferred alternative of reducing Endangered Species Act protections for wolves; all to satisfy already corrupt state wildlife agencies that don’t like predators.

 

August 8, 2013. Revolutionary idea: managing cougars in WA using social stability as a benchmark to management. Hopefully one day all states will practice this for all carnivores. This is great news for more progressive wildlife management where WA is not allowing more than 14% of the lion population to be killed each year in a given area.

 

July 26, 2013. Major new publication available on my Publications Page. This 16 page scientific, peer-reviewed paper suggests that the eastern coyote should more appropriately be called “coywolf” given their mixed species ancestry and intermediate morphological and genetic status.

 

July 25, 2013. Hillary Clinton joins fight against elephant poaching. This is great news. Now that she is no longer Secretary of State, she is helping to protect our wildlife resources. I just hope that her eyes are opened to how Americans treat their own wildlife species, especially carnivores like coyotes and wolves, and the need for a federal Carnivore Conservation Act.

 

July 12, 2013. Montanan hunter speaks out against trapping and wolf control. A well written piece.

 

July 5, 2013. Obama to launch major initiative to curb wildlife trafficking. While this is good news, I can not help but wonder why he is not doing something similar to stop the literal slaughter of many carnivore species here in the U.S., such as coyotes and wolves – especially wolves, since they just came off the Endangered Species Act. Even if they aren’t threatened with extinction, there is surely a better policy than the way these ecologically important animals are treated.

 

July 3, 2013. “Coyote” verified on Long Island. This is the last major land area (except for some islands) that coyotes have yet to – until now- colonize. Very cool that it/they apparently traveled around New York City to get there.

 

June 28, 2013. Documents show that state wildlife officials lobbied to limit wolf restoration. What a bunch of filthy people, both state wildlife agencies and the federal government. Any of these agencies that espouse the “North American Model of Wildlife Management” are hypocrites. They say that because they think they are dictators and can do what they want and limit the restoration of certain animals, like wolves, and allow the slaughter of other animals, like coyotes.

 

June 13, 2013. More than 50 coyote sightings reported in Newton, MA. Essentially this is a level-headed article about learning to live with eastern coyotes or coywolves. I am quoted in the article as well.

 

June 8, 2013. Please visit my Publications Page to see many new articles that I have written including the reference format for my new book My Yellowstone Experience as well as additional articles. One article is on Loving Wolves and Hating Coyotes. And I have just revised this original article with new text and a better, edited version:

Way, J.G. 2012. Eastern coyote/coywolf life cycle in southeastern Massachusetts and some commonly asked questions. Eastern Coyote Research Publications 4: 1−5. URL: http://easterncoyoteresearch.com/downloads/EasternCoyoteLifeCycle.pdf.

 

June 7, 2013. Don’t Forsake the Gray Wolf. A great opinion by the Dutchers (who made a very popular TV documentary in the early 1990s about raising a wolf pack in captivity in the middle of the Idaho wilderness) in the New York Times.

 

June 4, 2013. Young black bear killed for just being in an urban area. It is pretty sad that Environmental Police are permitted to kill wildlife just for being in an area, yet MA Wildlife makes it exceedingly difficult to get permits to study these same animals. The comments to the article are overwhelmingly pro-bear and against what the police did.

 

May 31, 2013. Westchester (NY) Residents Told To Be Aggressive With Coyotes. A nicely written article about learning to live with coyotes by instilling fear in them, not killing them.

 

May 25, 2013. State-funded coyote killings must stop. This is an excellent article written by Daryl DeJoy up in Maine. What a bunch of hypocrites wildlife managers are. They are typically conservative folks, which is fine, except that they don’t vote that way when it comes to benefit them. There is no science indicating that killing coyotes helps deer and the committee ignores all of the evidence so tax-payers can pay for an ineffective system to benefit the minority. Typical politics.

 

May 20, 2013. Nantucket deer herd larger than estimated. This is an off-shore island off Cape Cod and is one of the only places where coywolves (eastern coyotes) don’t live. I wonder if people have thought of the obvious benefit of releasing coyotes from the mainland to there. They would definitely help with contributing to controlling the deer herd out there.

 

May 8, 2013. Coyotes help restore ecological diversity. An excellent and well written article.

 

April 29, 2013. Please visit the link on my website (Book Project) as my new book (My Yellowstone Experience) is now printed and ready to ship. It makes a great gift!

 

April 27, 2013. A cool article about a wildlife preserve near my house run by the MA Audubon Society. I wish more organizations had MA Audubon’s vision, as these are like national parks. You are only allowed to hike and nature study in these preserves and no hunting/trapping is allowed. There is some cool wildlife on urbanized Cape Cod!

 

April 25, 2013. In a not surprising turn of events given Obama’s lack of support for wildlife, “U.S. plans to drop gray wolves from the ESA”. What a sad turn of events that wolves live in about 5% of their historic range, and political hacks call that a recovered population.

 

April 9, 2013. Restore decency, stop killing wolves in MN. By Bob Goldman. A good article on why wolves are important and should not randomly be killed for fun.

 

April 8, 2013. Coyote pack trees two young mountain lions (cougars) in Wyoming. Fascinating pictures.

 

April 5, 2013. Consider a coyote coexistence program for your community. A good article written by Lesley Sampson which states that human feeding of wildlife is often the root cause of most coyote-related problems.

 

April 2, 2013. Caught on video: lone deer fends off two “coyotes” in Gloucester, MA. Fascinating video.

 

April 1, 2013. Taking shots in the dark. Coyote populations continue to grow, despite being a popular hunting target. I am quoted in this article as it discusses some ethical issues around these hunts as well as why people do such a thing as kill for fun.

 

March 23, 2013. Wyoming wolves under attack. A good nationally televised video about the debate and mis-management of wolves by state agencies in the Rocky Mountain west.

 

March 23, 2013. Killing Coyotes Utah Style: “I love to hunt them”. Although killing coyotes does not work there are people who love to kill animals. A nice article by Marc Bekoff. Click here to watch a 5 min video on people who think it is fun and OK to simply shoot and kill coyotes. It is important to note how hypocritical conservative lawmakers in the west are. They want fiscal conservatism, yet they go out of their way to create additional laws and make the government bigger (even though they are against it) by creating additional laws if it conveniences them. The worst part is that they have no proof that any of this (i.e., the bounty) even works. Time for a National Carnivores Conservation Act to abolish these type of insane and archaic activities. Here is a good New York Times article on this topic and shows how the “North American Model of Wildlife Conservation” clearly doesn’t apply to predators like coyotes (and wolves) whom most hunters seem to hate.

 

March 22, 2013. Toronto lawmaker wants a ban on feeding coyotes and a ban on hunting and trapping them. This is a very positive article and indicates that some communities are coexisting with coyotes!

 

March 22, 2013. A possible wolf is found in Kennebunk, ME and state and federal officials apparently do nothing about it. This is why state agencies should not be in charge of predators. There is an obvious conflict of interest to managing predators by an agency that gets its money mainly from hunting dollars, yet the public trust says all wildlife should be managed for its state’s citizens, not just hunters. Update March 25: wildlife officials still puzzled by white canid and can’t determine if it is a “coyote” (really coywolf), wolf, or dog. Update April 1: Animal identified as rare white “coyote”. Great work by the Maine wildlife biologist to track down and identify this animal. I am pleased to say that I was wrong with my above statement; the state of Maine went out of their way to find this animal and find that it was a decent sized female (37 pounds) coywolf that was white in color. Great work.

 

March 18, 2013. Abolish the varmint classification for species including coyotes. A very worthy petition that most people, certainly including the majority of hunters, should be able to agree upon. It just requires a simple log-in and then signature.

 

March 15, 2013. In some great news for carnivores, MN votes to keep protections on wolves for 5 years even though they were recently removed from the federal Endangered Species List and a hunt this fall killed over 400 of the state’s ~3000 wolves.

 

March 14, 2013. Another great article on needing to reform wildlife management. I warn you that much of this discussion is pretty graphic and most of you (especially from the east) will be horrified with the manner in which native wildlife, mostly coyotes, are treated. It makes MA’s 6 month unlimited slaughter (including using bait and predator calls) hunting season look PG-rated.

 

March 13, 2013. Animal torture within Wildlife Services makes it national – to Fox News of all places. I would not expect this story to make it nationally via Fox News, but alas, the conservative learning public can see first hand what abuses this section of U.S. government supports and hopefully will find voters to abolish this agency from killing native carnivores. Unfortunately, many conservatives out west whole-heartedly support this form of welfare. Hopefully Democrats and Republicans can work together to reform this agency.

 

March 12, 2013. This article highlights the danger of listening exclusively to state wildlife biologists regarding large predator management. Although this article was written ~1.5 years ago it is very telling. The article has many inaccuracies and the comments are probably seen as fact and gospel at state agencies here in the Northeast. Here are some of my most pertinent comments: 1) both male and female wolves disperse (not just the males) and eastern coyotes/coywolves born in the Quabbin area of MA also have a high chance of dispersing all the way to “Albany” just like wolves likely would; 2) the term Timber Wolf is problematic. More and more evidence points to the original species of wolf found here in the Northeast to be the Eastern Wolf and this animal is far different (and more like the Coywolf that we have) than the larger Gray Wolves in Alaska (which are not called timber wolves up there). And 3) both cougars and wolves can live much closer to people than the article indicates. In fact, wolves live throughout farmland in the Northern half of MN, WI, and MI. Cougars live right up to the urban edge in many western cities, including Los Angeles.  To say that cougars and wolves can’t live in the Northeast (even MA) is false and misleading to say the least. However, this is all theoretical, as there are no populations of cougars or wolves close to MA and the only realistic way to have them here is to reintroduce them back to the area like has been done with many other animals such as deer and turkeys.

 

March 11, 2013. Support a Carnivore Conservation Act for MA. Visit this link to learn more.

 

March 11, 2013. A very lucky Bobcat. A great 6 min video on how the group Predator Defense released this bobcat from an illegal snare.  The commentary also is great at the end how in that it shows that this incomprehensible practice is legal in most states and even encouraged by our corrupt state wildlife depts that are essentially a special interest hunting (in this case trapping) group.

 

March 7, 2013. Alleged cat killer to stay in jail. I found this article when I was reading an article about my recent talk in Hamilton (see story below). I find it interesting that someone goes to jail for killing a cat (not that I remotely agree with what the person did) but you buy a $30 hunting license and that allows you to shoot and kill as many coywolves as you can, for pure fun. Something is wrong there and lawmakers need to know this.

 

March 7, 2013. Nice story on my recent talk in Hamilton, MA.

 

March 6, 2013. Coyote hunting contests need to be a thing of the past. This is something I would think even most hunters could agree on. The picture is from KS/NE area and I find it amazing that people can be proud of killing the most of any species. This is something that should be banned nationally and shows the true character of state fish and game departments to let this happen – they just sit back and let our native wildlife be abused. For anyone that uses Nikon products, be sure to let them know that they were a sponsor for this disgusting event and you will no longer buy their products for supporting such a barbaric activity.

 

March 3, 2013. Coyotes (coywolves) in our midst. A nicely written article that features my research – the article stemmed from a talk I gave in Burlington, MA on the topic. There is also a nice picture of me and my assistant that was present at the talk.

 

March 3, 2013. Oregon’s ‘wolf-safe’ zone promotes non-lethal ways to protect livestock. It is a great article to show how preventing livestock losses doesn’t mean that predators have to be killed. It also quite clearly shows you that state wildlife agencies are full of BS: why? They claim to base their hunting quotas on science but they don’t. They base their quotas on killing as much (especially predators) as they can. Many people knew ahead of time (and their is published literature showing) that killing predators randomly does not reduce livestock deaths. So Idaho has allowed a virtual slaughter of wolves the past 2 years and with all of those dead wolves what has happened? Livestock losses have increased. Then, someone from Idaho Fish and Game says that that is surprising information, probably because he has never read a scientific paper that doesn’t fit his worldview of maximizing the slaughter of predators. I am glad this article went national as it shows that state game agencies should not be allowed to manage predators and they are incapable of rational thought in managing predators humanely.

 

March 1, 2013. Mountain lions in America. A very long article on my favorite species of cat, pumas. The article highlights the over-reaching effect that state wildlife agencies have with hunting and how not hunting mountain lions (also called cougars) could allow them to recolonize the midwest and east – and actually prevent lion-human conflicts.

 

March 1, 2013. Coyote woman. A nice article on Camilla Fox, founder of Project Coyote, in Boston University magazine.

 

February 24, 2013. Wolves, state (wildlife) agencies, and the Republican party. Another great article by George Wuerthner, in describing the undemocratic system called wildlife management. These agencies allow anyone to slaughter predators like coyotes because that is who pays their salaries, yet they ignore researchers like myself and make it as difficult as possible for us to do wildlife research – which they end up ignoring the results of anyway. Ralph Maughan makes a great comment in the comment section, that many people vote not for Democrats, but against the modern Republican because of what they stand for. I would say I fit right into that category and Dr. Maughan is a former political science professor so I would trust his viewpoint.

 

February 18, 2013. Wiley the coyote: A Wisconsin hunter’s story of love and transformation. This is a heartwarming story of a hunter that adopted an orphaned coyote pup in WI, raised it, and then the state allowed him to buy it for $24. I must point out that I have 2 graduate degrees related to the study of eastern coyotes/coywolves and you would think I know what I am doing around these animals; yet the state of MA (Div. of Fish and Wildlife) has rejected my proposal for a similar educational and scientific study on my spacious 1.4 acre property. In fact, they have pretty much interfered with (or at the least, ignored) all of my research on these cool animals, yet they allow anyone to slaughter them in unlimited numbers for half the year.

 

February 14, 2013. What the Urban Coyote Can Teach Us About Nature in Cities.

 

February 11, 2013. California Lynch Mob Targeting Coyotes. I have said this for a few years: the way that coyote hunting is allowed nationwide reminds me so much of racism and hatred of other people. This is a great article written with the same theme. Government needs to reform state fish and game agencies to get with modern times. And soon! What can be done: end baiting coyotes, end year long or very long seasons, end no bag limits, and finally: treat them with respect like other animals get.

 

February 5, 2013. Coyote Watch Canada says killing coyotes is not the answer. A very nice article.

 

February 1, 2013. New Mexican politician introduces bill to ban animal-killing contests. What great news. I often report news that is negative and makes me sound very pessimistic. I am happy to share this story, and to know that there are more and more good people out there. As an Independent (Unaffiliated) voter, I find it interesting that the majority of legislation for environmental or animal protection are by Democrats.

 

January 30, 2013. Breaking news: I am in the midst of publishing “My Yellowstone Experience”. Please visit the Book Page of my sister website (My Yellowstone Experience) to learn more!

 

January 30, 2013. Staggering stats: cats (domestic) kill billions of animals a year. This is more reason to leave cats inside at all times and to allow coyotes to fulfill their ecological role which includes preying on stray cats.

 

January 18, 2013. The following is an important article about picking Raul Grijalva for Interior Secretary. I admit that I did not like Ken Salazar, a rancher, as the secretary. Our nation deserves Grijalva for protecting our environment. I was one of the signers of the letter mentioned in this article. Bison and wolves and all other animals will fare much better under Grijalva. Read the original letter here which was recently posted on the Wildlife News.

 

January 16, 2013. Identifying and dealing with anti-wolf forces. This article does a great job of saying what I have always said: hating predators reminds me so much of hate, racism, and bigotry in humans. It is highly likely that people that hate predators also feel the same way toward groups of humans. Yet another reason why we need a Carnivore Conservation Act in this country to guide the management, not hate, of ecologically important animals. Right now state agencies are coddling to people that hate these animals and that is not appropriate.

 

January 14, 2013. Wild things: a good, short 2.5 minute film on America’s war on native carnivores.

 

January 11, 2013. Man is proud of slaughtering “coyotes” (coywolves) in western Massachusetts over a bait pile, and he gets away with it with current antiquated laws. That is my title to the article that says “Take the Alpha Pair First”. I hope he finds karma for his disregard for a socially important predator. My disdain for fish and wildlife agencies is amplified when they sit back and allow this to happen yet make it exceedingly difficult to do research on the same animals. It is thoughtless to ignore the social dynamics and effects that this has on local packs. It is literally all about killing. I should add that this man pays $30 for a hunting license and the state of MA gets nothing else back besides the stories that he gets to share of how he slaughters wildlife for fun.

 

January 11, 2013. While the U.S. is hell bent at severely reducing their predator populations (like wolves) this story tells of a 3rd country in Africa (Zambia this time) eliminating predator hunting following Botswana and Kenya. One day the conservative U.S. will stop coddling the hunting industry and realize that there are more profitable and more ethical uses of wildlife, like wildlife tourism.

 

January 9, 2013. Maine’s expensive war on coyotes harms and kills wildlife. A good article about the hypocrisy associated with our government officials who advocate for reduced expenditure and then pay for these type of ethically and financially questionable activities. This quote from the article sums it all “For several decades,  special-interest groups (hunting and trapping groups) cultivated favored status with powerful legislators and politically appointed IFW commissioners. Their pro-coyote control agenda trumps science.” Read the comments section by some deranged people as well.

 

January 8, 2013. Bobcat attacks family in Brookfield, Massachusetts. Hopefully the animal will be tested positive for rabies to explain this very rare and unlikely attack.

 

January 6, 2013. “Coyote” hunting contests this winter. What a sport, trying to kill as many of another species as possible. I think most of these are in PA. What a despicable group of people, in my opinion, that think it is fine to go out and slaughter another species.

Comments are closed.