23 December 2015. The wolves that survived the night, By Tim Preso. In finally some good news, this article details how wildlife groups kept pressure on politicians and they came thru by keeping dirty riders out of budget bills. From article: “We thank the members of the House and Senate who stood strong for the protection of wolves and recognized that a spending bill is no place to make life-and-death policy decisions for our nation’s wildlife. We will remain steadfast in our commitment to fight for the wolves and other species under threat of extinction. And we will think of the wolf somewhere in the mountains south of Wyoming’s Teton Range that will not be shot this winter, but instead will climb through the snow to a ridge-top at night under a winter sky filled with stars and will throw back her head to send a wild howl across the forest.”
22 December 2015. Part coyote, part wolf, part dog: Enter the coywolf. An interesting article that I am quoted in.
22 December 2015. Yet another jurisdiction (British Columbia) is challenged regarding their narrow management of carnivores (wolves and bears in this case) for special interests. It seems that there is a daily article on how biased the “North American Model” is toward carnivores.
21 December 2015. Conservationists deal blow to Wildlife Services in landmark WA Wolf case. This is incredibly good news since they use public US tax-paying dollars to kill wildlife almost always at the benefit of private ranchers.
18 December 2015. Carnivore hunting does not always align with science, says researchers… This is an important study (with peer review article linked there) but not a surprise to anyone that follows carnivore “management” in the U.S.
17 December 2015. A list of “Predator Harvest Contests” for the country. This is appalling to say the least but it is important to remember that none of these contest would be able to happen if it wasn’t for the blessing of state wildlife management agencies. This along with all the other atrocities that are happening to predators underscores the need for radical reform of these agencies.
17 December 2015. Opinion: why we protest black bear hunts (in New Jersey). This wonderfully written article could easily be applied to wolves and coyotes nationwide.
14 December 2015. Our wildlife trust. A fantastic article by Dr. Adrian Treves. Quotes from the article: “In myriad, subtle ways, our county, state, and federal governments have failed to recognize and uphold the principle that environmental assets are held in trust for us and for future generations….Take Wisconsin’s state wolf advisory committee. If you spoke critically about wolf-hunting, you were denied a seat on the committee that would recommend to hunt or not to hunt and how many wolves to hunt. Thieves are guarding our assets…loud moneyed interests overwhelm democratic principle…Defend the independence of judges against efforts to make them ‘more democratic’ by forcing them to campaign for election– because that can make your courts beholden to moneyed interests. Prevent the executive branch from appointing your trustees because executives tend to appoint special interest cronies…We need to demand trustees that understand assets and future generations, not trustees allied to interest groups.”
10 December 2015. Efforts to prevent ‘coywolf’ hybrids is working (in North Carolina), study finds… This is an interesting study as biologists in eastern North Carolina are understandably trying to prevent coyote x red wolf hybrids as they affect red wolf survival and viability as a species. Eventually, if left unchecked, they’d likely have similar hybridized animals as the northeastern coyote/coywolf…
4 December 2015. Republicans serving up endangered species for the holiday season. Published in The Hill, and showing just how sleazy and special interest focused these politicians’ antics are.
30 November 2015. The ethical imperative of rewilding and saving carnivores and other large mammals. A great article by Dr. William (Bill) Lynn.
30 November 2015. The wrong way to save the piping plover. A great article describing the fallacy of killing predators when it is really our fault in the first place by creating too many challenges (and mortality hazards) for this shorebird.
27 November 2015. Utah’s (pointless) war on coyotes claims another wolf. The time is ripe for lawsuits and public outcry to change wildlife management policies, especially for carnivores.
16 November 2015. It’s time to stop celebrating killing, by Phil Carter. A very good article coming out of New Mexico. “Coyote blood is worn as a badge of pride, a victory crown in a celebration of needless death. Killing contests are mass assault on a species that has filled a key ecological role even in the midst of ongoing devastation of other carnivore species in the American West.” Also: “When we celebrate the indiscriminate killing of wildlife, when we exchange prizes for lives, we’re assigning a value to life that takes away a precious piece our humanity. Instead of being stewards of this beautiful land and all its inhabitants, we become tyrants.” Yet just about all state wildlife agencies, except CA, allow this carnage to happen, all for a tiny minority of the human population.
15 November 2015. Three questions about the ethics of wildlife management. This is a great article coming from Maine and summarizes how wildlife is “managed” for “harvesting” purposes by all state wildlife departments where hunters get the lions share of state wildlife managers attention. Shame on them for not treating wildlife as a resource that belongs to all citizens equally.
13 November 2015. Yes, eastern coyotes are hybrids, but the ‘coywolf’ is not a thing. By Roland Kays… An interesting read, but I don’t agree with many of things written in this paper. I’ll let a forthcoming paper explain some of my objections to this article. Stay tuned…
4 November 2015. Predators and the Public Trust. This might be the most powerful professional paper written to date on how wildlife is managed undemocratically for a minority interest, especially in regards to predators. This will surely trigger lawsuits and/or corrective legislative action and eventually more equitable management for predators and the people that study them. The take home point is that the present way of managing for narrow interests does not hold the trust (predators like wolves) as an asset for future generations. From the article: “lethal uses of predators need immediate scientific scrutiny to justify their proposed contribution to the public interest.”
28 October 2015. Greater than the sum of its parts: It is rare for a new animal species to emerge in front of scientists’ eyes. But this seems to be happening in eastern North America (with the eastern coyote/coywolf). Story from The Economist.
19 October 2015. MA Wildlife once again sells out our wildlife to a minority interest. Violating just about every rule of wildlife management, whereby wildlife should have a secure population before being allowed to be hunted, you can now kill a bear statewide – even where populations are just beginning to be colonized or don’t even exist. And evident in their link, the few that hunt bears are excited about this prospect where they include exclamation points throughout their link – like this is exciting news for 2015. This is a state of MA website too. Unbelievable… So much for those of us wanting bears back in our area. The bigger picture is ‘why is wildlife management determined by a bunch of middle-aged white men that are pro-hunting advocates?’ – there are other non-hunting interests and these interests are represented by the majority of society especially in an urbanized state like MA. The current consistency of wildlife management gives no consideration to individual animals and especially sentient wildlife like carnivores. Shame on them.
19 October 2015. Great news: despite New Mexico officials denying a permit to release Mexican wolves by the US Fish and Wildlife Service, the FWS snubs NM and decides to continue with the release anyway. Great news that the USFWS is finally taking a stand to anti-predator state wildlife agencies.
13 October 2015. The eastern coyote quandary. A fascinating article based on these animals in the Adirondacks.
5 October 2015. Opposition to trophy hunting is overwhelming. Fascinating read… Yet canids and other carnivores can still be slaughtered throughout North America.
4 October 2015. MA may allow hunting of deer in the Blue Hills Reservation, which is just outside of Boston… I am skeptical that there would be the stated 85 deer per sq mile given the presence of eastern coyotes/coywolves – and I find it incredulous that they aren’t mentioned as a potential check in the deer population as I would hypothesize that they definitely prey on them in the Blue Hills.
2 October 2015. Great article detailing a survey: New Report Shows Scientific Integrity at Federal Agencies Needs Improvement.
2 October 2015. Great article criticizing the government of British Columbia for its inhumane wolf-killing policies. Many of the same arguments (caribou excluded) could be made against coyote, coywolf and wolf killing throughout their range.
29 September 2015. Nearly 100 Congressional Members urge President Obama to reject attacks against the Endangered Species Act. As an independent voter I am disgusted by Republican tactics. Another article is available here and is summarized in 1 sentence: In all, House Republicans have introduced more than 80 stand-alone bills, riders, and amendments to whittle away or outright eliminate ESA protections for threatened and endangered wildlife. I add that previous articles below show that there is wide-spread (90%) bipartisan support for the ESA.
29 September 2015. Despicable Coyote Killing Contests Affect You More Than You Realize. This is a very important and timely article; “Questioning the Carnage” will be thought provoking to any contest participants who take the time to read this, or to any state fish and game/wildlife department that continues to allow this barbaric practice to continue (note: only the state of CA has banned this, in 2014).
28 September 2015. Deadly disease that humans, livestock contract from wildlife, rodents. I find these articles amazing how they never seem to correlate the need for predators. This article is in WY which treats even wolves as vermin/nuisance in most of the state… The fact that the article mentions nothing of the ability of predators to regulate such diseases is very telling.
14 September 2015. Algonquin Park public wolf howls cancelled 2 years in a row. This is disappointing… but a worthwhile read… Also they have audio of eastern wolves howling and it is remarkable at how similar they sound to the eastern coyote/coywolf, which has eastern wolf DNA in its genetic makeup. This includes the adults howling in the “background” of the pups’ yippity-yaps.
10 September 2015. Unbelievable…Utah Officials Continued to Pay $50 Bounties for Dead Coyotes After Learning of Endangered Wolf’s Presence. Thank goodness for conservation groups to at least keep this stuff in the news… Now we need groups in the Northeast to do the same for wildlife agencies that literally ignore the entire concept of the eastern wolf and a unique wolf species endemic to this region. From the article “Utah officials helped kill this female wolf who could have contributed to recovery of her kind and the health of ecosystems in Utah.”
1 September 2015. Mamaroneck (New York) Mayor Renews Call For Control Over Coyotes After New Attack. My comments: This might be the most bizarre and biased article that I have read in a long time… First, the gist of the title states that “coyotes” are the problem to be dealt with yet the vast majority of the article discusses deer overpopulation. Which is it? Residents (and reporters) need to realize that many species of wildlife does really well near us and that urbanized areas are wildlife habitat too. A more appropriate stance for the article might have involved some actual statistics such as eastern coyotes (or coywolves) are a hybrid between western coyotes and eastern wolves. They are ecologically important and natural to the various ecosystems of the Northeast and are evolving into the region’s top predator. They rarely are a danger to people despite living near us, and could be a very valuable (and free) tool to controlling overabundant wildlife such as deer. Since deer kill a couple hundred people each year in the U.S. (the vast majority due to car collisions), eastern coyotes should be viewed as an important potential natural control on deer.
I am personally amazed at how often I hear people discuss the need to reintroduce wolves and/or cougars to the region. While I would personally love to see that, let’s not forget that we already have predators living here and the most noticeable one, the eastern coyote/coywolf, is part wolf and could be an asset not detriment to us. Simply leashing dogs and leaving cats inside can go a long ways to avoiding problems with wildlife including coywolves.
24 August 2015. The Time Has Come for a Different Way of ‘Managing’ Canada’s Wildlife. Many people are increasingly recognizing the need to diversify the way that wildlife, especially predators, are managed (i.e., dominated by hunting interests). While this story could be about anywhere, especially the U.S., it specifically focuses on western Canada. I argue this should be a nationwide discussion here in the U.S. too…
23 August 2015. The human ‘superpredator’ is unique and unsustainable says study. From the study: “The finding was all the more shocking considering that the rate at which humans killed these carnivores was 3.7 times the rate at which they killed herbivores….Human hunters, it seems, specialize in turning other predators into prey.” the ability to target mostly adult individuals across marine and terrestrial prey groups makes us unique among all other predators. Yet our state wildlife agencies still treat most predators as vermin and have long unnecessary hunting seasons even on common species such as coyotes, even though the major conclusion of the article was to stop killing them as they are more valuable alive.
Human Super-predator graphic:
20 August 2015. Good video of melanistic (i.e., black) coyotes/coyotes in South Carolina. It is my knowledge that coyotes in the southeast of a little genetic input from wolves (but less than in the Northeast) and dogs and that it is likely that dog DNA is contributing to melanistic coyotes similar to what has believed to occur with dog introgression into wolves producing black colored individuals.
14 August 2015. Cecil the lion and compassionate conservation. While this particular lion has garnered worldwide attention (and outrage) for being killed recreationally as a trophy, it is important to remember this happens worldwide for many animals. In the lower 48 states, you could substitute lions for hundreds of wolves, thousands of mountain lions (cougars) and black bears, many thousands of coyotes, bobcats and foxes. From the article “We forget wild populations are formed by of individuals that can suffer stress and pain, which we deem unacceptable for companion animals that share our homes and those we farm to eat.” The only thing I would disagree with is that many of us don’t forget this, it is just the policies of wildlife agencies that willingly ignore this.
9 August 2015. Wolf? Coyote? Coywolf? Understanding Wolf Hybrids Just Got a Bit Easier. A very interesting article focusing on eastern wolves but also discussing how eastern coyotes or coywolves are hybrids between western coyotes and eastern wolves. This newest scientific paper confirms what I have written about previously…
3 August 2015. New York needs coyotes. Coyotes may be wily, even virtually invisible, but they’re changing our cities. By Lance Richardson.
1 August 2015. Here’s why Walter Palmer Keeps Saying He ‘Took’ Cecil The Lion. Kill euphemisms can be a hunter’s best friend. This is an excellent article about gaining social license through the use of deceptive euphemisms, and any animal (wolf, coyote, cougar/mt. lion) could be substituted for the African lion that the Minnesota dentist baited out of a national park to kill.
29 July 2015. Politics of extinction. Yet another article detailing congressional (well over 90% Republican led) assaults on the Endangered Species Act. This is a very succinct but detailed piece describing these unprecedented attacks.
24 July 2015. Let’s think about cougars and wolves. A very intriguing article about the thoughts of large carnivores returning to the Northeast, specifically the Adirondacks of NY.
15 July 2015. What is the point of saving endangered species? A very in-depth and long, but important, article explaining the importance of protecting species and ecosystems with a nice conclusion, “It’s about seeing human society and wild ecosystems as one inseparable whole.” This would be a great article to hand to someone who doesn’t quite understand the importance of the natural world.
14 July 2015. Shift in attitudes of coyotes over time on Cape Cod, MA. In this very important peer-reviewed study, the researchers found clear statistical evidence of improved views toward eastern coyotes over time. Included in this study is the fact that lethal control (i.e., human hunting) was viewed much less favorably than nearly a decade earlier. This study should be shared widely including with wildlife managers.
13 July 2015. House cats avoid coyote haunts… A very interesting article showing how coyotes keep cats out of wood areas in the Southeast. However, I strongly disagree with Dr. Roland Kays statement, “In some ways coyotes are kind of an invasive species in the east”. They aren’t invasive as they naturally colonized this region on their own after habitat changes and wolf eradication provided ideal conditions for them. Plus, eastern coyotes have genes from the original native wolf (the highest % being in the Northeast). The conclusion of the article is nice, stating, “larger predators on the landscape can maintain the balance of nature by keeping invasive species (like cats) at bay.”
13 July 2015. In Orleans (MA), A New Approach To The Age-Old Piping Plover Problem. This is a very promising article showing the efforts of a town on Cape Cod, MA to avoid predation on plovers by non-lethally conditioning predators not to approach plover nesting areas. This would be a win-win situation. I hope that other towns as well as state and federal governments attempt similar actions instead of the typical and probably ineffective method of shooting predators (foxes, coyotes) that come near nests.
11 July 2015. Red wolf debacle shows US Fish and Wildlife Service missing spine, by Ron Sutherland. This is an excellent opinion piece showing how cowardly the Obama Administration has been in protecting important but controversial species, like wolves, just to please a small minority of people (who probably didn’t even vote for him).
7 July 2015. New National Poll Finds 90 Percent of American Voters Support the Endangered Species Act. Naturally, we should ask why politicians (almost all being Republicans) keep meddling with the act when the vast majority of non-special interests favor it? Sadly, this Congress has already established itself as one of the most environmentally hostile congresses in history.
5 July 2015. Are humans, along with vanishing top predators, ‘the walking dead’? A very interesting article.
30 June 2015. U.S. to remove extinct cougar from Endangered Species Act. I find this move odd/ironic… USFWS and state agencies surely must know about all of the translocations of species from all over the country to other regions… For instance, elk restoration in the east came from elk from Yellowstone National Park. Even white-tailed deer were brought in from other areas to be restored in many places. Fishers came from different areas when restored to former habitats. Lynx restored to CO came from Alaska and other places far from CO. I am no expert on this but I am sure there are dozens of other examples. Thus I find it strange that there is no discussion to restore cougars/mt lions using appropriate source populations like which occurred for so many other species. This might even be further the case if there is no uniquely identified subpopulations (subspecies) of cougars in North America. It seems like carnivores live a double standard in so many regards…
29 June 2015. Coyotes are ‘everywhere’ in Pennsylvania, but they pose little threat to humans. This is a refreshing and well written article with the chief furbearer biologist for PA quoted many times with the overall message that “Our strategy is to live with them — do things differently so we can coexist,” and “Coyotes don’t carry rabies as readily as skunks, bats and raccoons, and while pets are in perpetual danger of becoming lunch, humans — even young children — have little to worry about.”
27 June 2015. Balancing hawks and doves in wildlife management. A very intriguing article calling for organizations and individuals to operate within a set of ethical principles that make sense to the outside world.
26 June 2015. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service allows a man to kill an Endangered Red Wolf on his property, seemingly because the person didn’t want the wolves there. There was never an indication that the wolves were doing anything wrong… The greed and hatred displayed by Americans never ceases to amaze me. And most, ironically, the USFWS includes at the top of their banner “Conserving the Nature of America”. It should more correctly state “Trying to Conserve the Nature of America but bowing down to intolerance and hatred and therefore not really conserving predators or anything that inconveniences people with political power.”
15 June 2015. Chris Pratt, actor, kills coyotes for fun and brags about it. “I do a lot of predator hunting, farm varmints, out in Wyoming,” Pratt explained. “Coyotes are assholes and they’ll eat your dog.” If this outdoors, supposedly godly, hard-working, humble, good-looking, talented, patriotic, giving, and family man exemplifies the qualities we should aspire to, then I don’t give society much hope. I guess his God doesn’t like predators… I think I’ll skip his movies including Jurassic World.
11 June 2015. Tapping your inner wolf. A very cool article on the misconceptions of wolves and the fact that an alpha (or breeding) male is not a forced and domineering role. The article features quotes from Rick McIntyre, my friend who works on the Yellowstone Wolf Project.
9 June 2015. Congress’s attacks on science-based rules… While this is not coyote-specific it is nonetheless important to show that many of our politicians are literally going back 100 years in times toward anti-science and anti-democratic (and anti-commonsense) stances to support special interests. This is really sad but important to show. On the heal of this scientific article in the prestigious journal Science is this memo about Congress’s attempts to legislatively delist wolves from the Great Lakes and Wyoming. This is a very well written summary of anti-science legislation. Another article, addresses the anti-science legislation taken up by Congress, and documents more changes to important environmental protections. Update June 10: At least the Secretary of the Interior is coming out and blasting these slimy moves.
2 June 2015. With climate change, species are increasingly hybridizing to survive. A very interesting article featuring eastern coyotes/coywolves.
27 May 2015. Janet Kessler: The urban coyote watcher. Great article about watching coyotes in urban San Francisco. It is always refreshing for people to view the wildlife (specifically, predators) living around them in such a positive light. Great work Janet!
20 May 2015. Chronic illness causes less harm when carnivores cooperate. A fascinating study coming out of Yellowstone National Park showing that wolves survive mange infestations at a higher rate when in social groups. It was previously thought that social groups may increase the risk of an animal acquiring/dying from mange.
1 May 2015. Utah pays high-priced lobbyist to de-list wolves. I find this article unbelievable and kudos to the investigative reporting. The videos are very well worth watching. It is unbelievable that a state with no established wolves would spend over a million dollars trying to de-list wolves. It wasn’t even discovered until a Democrat in a highly conservative state, found the line item sneaked into the budget, and questioned the appropriateness of using tax-paying dollars for something so wasteful. As an independent voter I constantly find the hypocrisity of Republicans to be absurd – this is a perfect example. In other words, don’t waste money unless it affects me or my constituents (in this case hunters and ranchers), then it is fine to. Also, this is further evidence of the anti-predator attitudes dominated by state wildlife agencies. The state wildlife director speaks of the lobbyist almost like he (the director) runs a private organization with no concept of the public trust or catering to a diverse citizenry. This has got to be one of the worst, most corrupt forms of government imaginable.
28 April 2015. Coyotes deserve a warmer welcome from New Yorkers, says wildlife biologist (Mark Weckel). This is a great article and counter to the many articles expressing disbelief as to the presence of coyotes in NYC.
26 April 2015. Fascinating interview in the Gothamist on eastern coyotes (coywolves) in New York City, specifically the Bronx, and why they are appearing in many, more urban locals such as Manhattan (see related video here). April 28: Here is yet another article of a coyote sighting in NYC; this animal is in Queens.
23 April 2015. Norway landmark ruling sees five (people) jailed over wolf hunting. This is more evidence that European countries are way ahead of North American countries in terms of carnivore protection, and specifically wolves.
17 April 2015. Wolf decline threatens iconic Isle Royale study. A great article about the fact that only 3 wolves were counted this past winter on the entire island. It should also note at the top that the wolf decline also probably threatens the health of the island as moose numbers are greatly increasing as wolves slide toward extinction on the island.
16 April 2015. Virginia Tech study shows adaptability of coyotes. It is amazing how there is no discussion in state wildlife agencies of better regulating/managing an animal (coyotes) when they can at least help in reducing overabundant deer populations that “cause millions of dollars of damage.”
16 April 2015. Wildlife “Services” slaughtered 2.7 animals in 2014. Yet another article on the mis-aptly named agency. I find it incredible that this activity/agency is still fully funded by the US government and often much of the killing takes place in more conservative regions of the country where being fiscally conservative used to be important.
14 April 2015. Yet another coyote in New York City (with video). I wish that the animals would just be left alone and I’m sure they would find their way out of where they came from.
31 March 2015. Coyote wanders onto bar rooftop in Queens (NYC). This would be hard to believe without the accompanying pictures and videos. Almost as remarkable is the fact that eastern coyotes (coywolves) are just beginning to show up in Queens and Long Island, NY… You would think an early colonizer would choose a less conspicuous location!
20 March 2015. The congressmen afraid of the big bad wolf. This great article was written in The Hill, a Congress Blog. This is one of many great quotes from the article, “it also is only the latest in over-the-top rhetoric by anti-wolf legislators who seem determined not to let facts or perspective get in the way of their efforts to short-circuit legal protections for these imperiled animals.” And this one “It’s nothing new, of course, for politicians to use scare tactics and exaggerated, inflammatory rhetoric to frighten people into supporting their otherwise unpopular bills. But presenting fairy tales as fact is unacceptable.”
19 March 2015. For world’s only wild red wolves, a fateful decision. This article details the efforts of the state of North Carolina to terminate the successful red wolf program, really on false premises. I find it preposterous that a state agency continues to defend the minority interest of a few people that complain of the program. This is a true tragedy of the commons just by who is representing wildlife.
16 March 2015. Coyote or Wolf? Animals in Massachusetts may be both: coywolf. I missed this article from February, despite being quoted. It is a nice summary of what the animals not just in MA but all of the Northeast are: hybrids that could also be called coywolves.
16 March 2015. Coyote follows a skunk without incident. A cool pictorial (4 pics) short story of a coyote following a skunk.
13 March 2015. Save the red wolf. A nice, short (1 min) video highlighting the ecological importance of the red wolf, a species that currently lives in the wild in the eastern part of North Carolina. It is likely the same species as the eastern wolves and historically lived up the eastern Seaboard. The eastern coyote or coywolf looks very similar because it is the product of hybridization between this wolf and western coyotes, as well as lesser amounts of genetic introgression from gray wolves and dogs.
6 March 2015. ‘That Howling? Just New York’s Neighborhood Coyotes’. Very good article about ‘coyotes’ in New York City proper, mostly the Bronx and parts of Manhattan.
6 March 2015. The wolf at our door. A very nice article about wolves potentially returning to the Adirondacks of New York. Steve Hall and Maggie Howell, at the end of the article, nicely describes the eastern coyote/coywolf and how they need better protection to avoid wolves getting killed by coyote hunters and to avoid hybridization.
6 March 2015. Coyote finds old dog toy, acts like a puppy… Just when you think you’ve seen it all!
5 March 2015. ‘Coyotes’ right at home in N.J. suburbs. A well written article… It is amazing how eastern wolf-like the 2 animals appear – again, why I prefer the term coywolf for these animals.
4 March 2015. Petition to: Protect Yellowstone National Park wolves from trophy hunting and trapping on surrounding federal lands. Please sign on; it is simple to do.
4 March 2015. Coyotes: They get a bad rap. This is a mostly positive article but unfortunately a couple of misnomers are repeated… The first is Massachusetts’ supposed estimate of 10,000 ‘coyotes’ in the state. This number is picked out of the air and is not backed by any science yet they refuse to refine the estimate. I think that 3,000 to 5,000 in an area the size of MA is a much more realistic estimate based on published science which is much lower than the current value. The other is canid size: western coyotes average 20-30 pounds, eastern coyotes or coywolves 30-40 pounds (they do not weigh 75 lb, that would be a wolf), and eastern wolves are only in the 60 lb range. ‘110 pound’ wolves are western gray wolves and it is debatable if MA ever had those wolves in pure form and if so they were probably gray/eastern wolf hybrids that historically lived here which are similar to the wolves in the Great Lakes states of MN, WI, and MI.
3 March 2015. Upscale NY suburb embroiled in a wily debate over coyotes. It is nice to see a few people quoted as saying that coexistence (i.e., learning to avoid interactions with coyotes like leashing pets, leaving cats inside) is the solution.
27 February 2015. Should research animals be named? I found this article fascinating with both people against and for it, which focuses more (but not exclusively) on laboratory animals. Even a researcher against naming stated that it would be preferable “to assign names randomly, not based on personality or looks. Make the names as unattachable to meaning as possible.” That would be similar to the research that I have done whereby animals are named based on capture events/locations and not human-derived names.
26 February 2015. Over 60 Canadian and International signatories voice opposition to the British Columbia wolf kill in an open letter to the B.C. government. This link provides a related petition if you want to sign on in opposition to the wolf kill.
23 February 2015. Article: Hunting is not “harvesting”: When people kill wild animals they now call it “harvesting”. Many people that I know, including myself, think that using the term “harvesting” to kill a sentient animal, such as a coyote, fox, or even deer, is just wrong, for many reasons. The following article makes many good points on this topic.
18 February 2015. Pack of scientists urge Congress to leave wolves, ESA alone. Here is the official sign on letter to Congress of which I had the pleasure of being a part of. Update February 19: Scientists, Business Leaders, Tribes, and NGOs to Congress: Oppose Anti-Wolf Legislation.
18 February 2015. Killing coyotes not the answer – Coexistence with coyotes touted as answer… A very good article.
12 February 2015. In yet another move to subvert the Endangered Species Act, science, and the American public, some members of Congress are attempting to legislatively remove gray wolves from the ESA in the states of MI, WI, MN, and WY… In 2012, this was also done in MT and ID… I find it amazing how legislators will go support these actions yet ignore things such as the proposed Carnivore Conservation Act. It is these times when I don’t have much hope for the progress of society. Please ask your congressmen/women to vote AGAINST this.
12 February 2015. Great article on how scientists responded to other scientists when they published a scientific paper on killing wolves in Canada to “save” caribou. It is not surprising that a state/provincial agency would support a “study” such as this while ignoring all of the ecological benefits that wolves provide. There is a link within the article to the actual scientific paper.
8 February 2015. Deer, wolves and the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission… A great article exposing the fallacies of managing canids in NC (but just about every state treats canids that way), while deer are theoretically much more dangerous. This follows my recent scientific paper describing strategies to improve the red wolf program.
6 February 2015. There’s a reason you’ve never heard of this wildlife-killing agency. Yet another good article exposing the mis-aptly named “Wildlife Services”, a tax-payer funded agency that kills wildlife for private interests. The lack of accountability for wildlife management institutions is astounding, and the need for the killing done by this agency has been questioned for over 50 years (since 1964).
4 February 2015. Lonely ants die young: they don’t know what to do when alone. While some of this might be physiological with the ants (i.e., sharing may promote digestion), I post this only with the thought that I wonder how coyotes feel when killed year-round, even if their “populations” aren’t necessarily affected.
4 February 2015. The war on wolves in Canada’s Pacific Northwest. It is great to see conservationists stand up and speak against this “cull”, really a slaughter. They make some fantastic points about killing predators in general.
3 February 2015. A cool profile on Dr. Stan Gehrt who researches coyotes in Chicago!
31 January 2015. Hitler Reflects Upon Learning Wolves Were Reintroduced. A very funny 3 min 49 sec spoof making fun of wolf haters and public lands grazing out in the western U.S.
19 January 2015. Thousands of coyotes occupying Chicago. A nice article on their adaptation to life in the concrete jungle which even includes them carefully crossing streets in traffic.
18 January 2015. Article: stop the brutal slaughter of wolves in Alberta and B.C.
17 January 2015. Predator advocacy group (Predator Defense) protests coyote hunting contests… It must be the time of the year where state agencies are challenged to maintain the “North American Model of Wildlife Management” yet allow the worthless slaughter of an important animal like coyotes (sadly, states apparently view this, antiquatedly, as “having fun killing a worthless animal.”).
16 January 2015. Wolves win Idaho hunting season. What a great article in the Dillon Tribune by a local describing the backward wolf policies in the state and the backward beliefs by many people that kill them.
15 January 2015. Groups denounce Eastern Oregon coyote-killing contest. It is really telling and terrible, at the same time, that these events are even legal. The end of the article sums it up nicely “The broader issue here is, should we be killing coyotes and other predators at all? There is a huge body of science that says ‘No, we shouldn’t be killing these animals,’ and that killing them actually upsets not only the pack structure, but also the equilibrium of the ecosystem and causes damage to prey and even other predators.”
14 January 2015. Coyote beautiful by Lucy McKernan. Another piece showing the importance of having predators around. This one from Ohio.
13 January 2015. Bill would remove federal protections for wolves in 4 states, including Wyoming where they would be legally slaughtered 365 days a year in >80% of the state. This type of potential legislation shows one how biased wildlife management is, especially regarding carnivores. I have been arguing for years (and so have others) that there needs to be some type of Carnivore Conservation Act (federally) and have created one for the state of MA, yet legislators seem to act more on emotions than science and reality.
12 January 2015. Meet Geri Vistein, biologist and coyote advocate. A Maine defender of the wild canines is a voice in the wilderness for their upside for farmers. Great article!
11 January 2015. Coyote captured in Manhattan and sedated (to be moved). The police in this story were very positive and didn’t want to harm the animal whom was sedated… but the bigger question is why couldn’t this animal have been left alone and found a place to live where she could prey on rodents and other animals deemed “pests”?
7 January 2015. Environmentalists couldn’t stop the slaughter at Idaho’s annual coyote and wolf derby. This is a brave article attempting to cause a culture shift in how some rural people view predators and the world around them. Well worth the read.
6 January 2015. Is it time to end coyote hunting in CA? Another great article defending all predators, including coyotes! “There’s no good reason to allow recreational coyote hunting in California, and quite a few reasons to end it — including protecting a species (wolves) we just went to a lot of trouble to declare endangered in the state. California should ban sport hunting of coyotes, and the sooner we do it, the safer those wolves on the northern border of our state will be.”
6 January 2015. Coyotes serve a purpose greater than target practice. What a great article by Nathan P Cote, PhD, a former Democratic member of the New Mexico House of Representative, serving District 53. This just shows/proves that there are good people all over the place, even in states that have backward wildlife policies. “Killing random coyotes just for fun, prizes and entertainment doesn’t eradicate them, it doesn’t help other game species in any sustained way, and it doesn’t “protect” livestock. It does alter both their pack structure and the natural ecosystem balance that keeps populations of coyotes and rodents in check.” “To continue to allow the killing of limitless numbers of coyotes, especially now and especially for fun and profit, is not only a betrayal to conservation, but also a betrayal of our humanity.”
2 January 2015. Cougar Rewildling Foundation talking about backward cougar management in western prairie states and discusses our Carnivore Conservation Act as an attempt to change carnivore management nationwide.
1 January 2015. Ban future hunting at National Seashore. This article is about a week old but I hadn’t seen it yet. It is great to have local people stand up for wildlife.
