28 December 2019. N.C. Gov. Cooper seeks help for critically endangered red wolf — just a dozen or so in the wild. Once occupying much of the eastern U.S., they have been driven to near-extinction by trapping, hunting and loss of habitat. This is so sad that people in charge of wildlife management are sabotaging the recovery effort – at least right now.
19 December 2019. In some very good news: State to prohibit coyote hunting contests – News – capecodtimes.com – Hyannis, MA — The state Fisheries and Wildlife Board voted Wednesday to approve regulations prohibiting contests that promote the hunting of predators and furbearers. Also see a press release here. This is a great start on predator reform. Next up is to try and shorten seasons, have bag limits per hunter, and banning some unsavory methods like baiting and using dogs to hunt them.
6 December 2019. Trump Administration Authorizes ‘Cyanide Bombs’ to Kill Predators Again, Months After Backlash. Many of us are still waiting for proven non-lethal techniques to be the focus of wildlife agencies.
30 November 2019. Coyotes have expanded their range to 49 states—and show no signs of stopping. Interesting article from National Geographic. Coyotes are posed to naturally colonize South America from Central/Latin America.
21 November 2019. Although not about eastern coyotes, this is a great (long) article in Yankee magazine about an animal I would love to have back in the Northeast U.S.: “The Great Divide | Are There Mountain Lions in New England? “Cougar truthers” are certain that the big cat is living and breeding again in New England. Wildlife experts say no. Not yet. But one day…”
11 November 2019. MassWildlife proposal will do little to stop rampant killing of coyotes. This is an excellent editorial.
9 November 2019. The Secret Identity of a Coyote-Like Creature: A photographer began shooting unusual-looking coyotes on Galveston Island. They turned out to be descended from a very rare wolf species. The interesting thing is that there is no mention of the eastern coyote/coywolf in the Northeast that has a very similar background having hybridized with eastern wolves – and these hybrid animals now live all over the Northeast. Here is a similar article: Should Red Wolves be Reintroduced in the Southeast? Hybridization between red wolves and coyotes presents a significant challenge to the endangered canine.
27 October 2019. NETN Species Spotlight: Eastern Coyote. I find it fascinating that the National Park Service uses a picture I took and doesn’t credit me or ask me to use it and then mentions the coywolf discussion but doesn’t cite any of the papers that I have published on the topic.
25 October 2019. Editorial: Don’t give up on red wolves. This is a sad state of affairs that a small but vocal minority of people in North Carolina are literally sabotaging a formerly successively program that had red wolves on the road to recovery.
14 October 2019. From John Laundre: Another hunter myth: Americans are losing touch with nature. In this article, Laundre argues that plenty of people are in touch with nature it is just a continuing shrinking percentage choose to hunt where a vast majority more choose to wildlife watch. He notes, “Despite 20 years of data showing more of us wanting to see animals alive and paying considerably more for that opportunity, state game agencies remain hunter agencies, whose goal is to manage nature as the personal slaughterhouse of the 4.5% of us that hunt. Though we all own the wildlife, wildlife watchers are still marginalized.”
14 October 2019. Group collects 168,000 signatures to put gray wolf restoration initiative on Colorado ballot. This is fascinating: allowing the citizens to decide to have wolves returned to Colorado. This is an important act of democracy.
27 September 2019. An interview with Chris Schadler, VT and NH rep. for Project Coyote. This is a good summary of her efforts to reform wildlife management in northern New England.
26 September 2019. Caught on camera: Girl escapes coyote attack in her yard in Illinois. This is certainly interesting behavior from the coyote. Thankfully the girl was not harmed. It is hard to know what caused the coyote to act like that.
10 September 2019. First Michigan wolf caught, flown to Isle Royale to kick off relocation effort’s second year. This is an exciting project with wolves being reintroduced to the island national park in Michigan. Many people, including myself, would love to see wolf recovery in the Northeast as well.
5 September 2019. Wolves more socially cooperative than dogs, study finds. A new study compares pack dogs with wolves and finds that the latter exhibit more prosocial, cooperative behavior toward their fellow pack members.
5 September 2019. Arizona becomes fourth state to ban wildlife hunting contests. Massachusetts, my home state, has proposed doing likewise but has not enacted a law to ban hunting contests yet.
15 August 2019. Why do people call coyotes brazen? This is a great article about how the media influences perceptions on wildlife (and many other things too).
15 August 2019. Activists take aim at coyote hunting in Vermont. This is a great article showing how individuals and organizations are exposing how bad coyote management is in most states. The article clearly shows how state fish and wildlife depts (here in Vermont) completely cater to a small minority of people who literally commit animal abuse and get away with it.
2 August 2019. Good news: “MassWildlife proposes regulations to ban predator contests and prohibit wanton waste: Following a review, MassWildlife proposed regulatory changes to prohibit predator hunting contests, prohibit wanton waste of all hunted wildlife, and change harvest reporting requirements for fox and coyote”. This is a first start in predator reform but embedded in this link is the fact that MassWildlife wants to make sure that they don’t “sellout” to their hunting base (less than 1% of the population) in their comments about banning predator hunting saying “we don’t want to lose support for hunting in general and specifically predator hunting”. My prediction is that next winter there is going to be the same issues and public outrage even with contests banned since they essentially aren’t changing anything related to hunting. Still allowed is a 6 month season, unlimited killing with no bag limits, and use of all methods like baiting and dogs to aide in killing eastern coyotes. Update Aug 4: Article from Cape Cod Times: MassWildlife weighs ban on coyote contests.
4 June 2019. The relentless slaughter of wolves paved the way for a predator that refuses to die: In the mismanagement of nature, government hunting programs cleared a path for coyotes to surge east. This is an interesting Washington Post article.
2 June 2019. Although not coyotes, this is important: “There may be a clear reason a jogger in Colorado got attacked by a mountain lion — and it means another attack could easily happen.” The article describes multiple scientists claiming that killing female cougars and having their cubs orphaned is leading to more deaths of cougars in the state. It is yet more evidence that large carnivores should not be hunted for fun, but rather only in defense of property.
1 June 2019. Coyotes regulate their own population without killing contests. This is a great article and directly talks about how carnivores like coyotes are social, sentient animals and how this is all completely ignored by state wildlife agencies to justify long hunting seasons.
18 May 2019. Coyote-killing contests face growing outrage, state bans. Endless pressure is finally starting to gradually reform state wildlife agencies.
16 May 2019. Sighting of Eastern Coyote Confirmed on Martha’s Vineyard. Wow, this is very interesting. It is unfortunate that the area biologist spoke so negatively of having a population exist there just like they do throughout the state. Why should MV be any different?
12 May 2019. It’s Time for a Revolution in State Wildlife Governance. This is a great article and summarizes what so many of us feel.
9 May 2019. MassWildlife meetings concerning coyotes: Concerned citizens can make their voices heard. This is a good summary of why folks should show up to these meetings and demand a change to wildlife management.
9 May. Oregon outlaws use of so-called ‘cyanide bombs’ (M-44s) as advocates move to take ban nationwide. This is great news!
30 April 2019. Coyote Chases Away Man Trying to Break into Cars. This man was trying to break into the cars parked in a residential area when a coyote saw him. It charged at him causing him to run away and hide. He finally dropped his plans to steal and went away. It was almost like the coyote was the guardian angel for that neighborhood. Fascinating!
April 29, 2019. Study finds traditional attitudes toward wildlife fading. Fascinating but not surprising article. Basically the article states that much less people have a utilitarian viewpoint of wildlife (like hunting to kill them) and more and more people now have a mutualistic viewpoint where wildlife has intrinsic rights. That is why many more people currently wildlife watch than hunt.
April 12, 2019. Please visit my Publications Page as I have updated it making it easier to find resources mainly because I removed all of my Book Reviews by making a new, separate page “Book Reviews” which is a sub-link under the Publications Page menu heading.
April 10, 2019. Letter: Girl Scouts Blast Powderhorn Outfitters (a hunting group on Cape Cod sponsoring a killing contest). What a great letter!
April 5, 2019. Coyote hearing spurs calls to end hunting contests in Massachusetts. This is a good article about how many residents are speaking up about the inhumane treatment of coyotes (and other predators).
April 1, 2019. Big thumbs up for hunting contests (in MA). This is an article that I wholeheartedly disagree with. I have written a response that was published shortly after, April 3: Two Thumbs Down for Hunting Contests, whereby I explain that the vast majority of people are against hunting contests and long hunting seasons. The articles refer to an upcoming meeting on April 4, 2019 (Thursday) from 6-8pm at Cape Cod Community College, 2240 Iyannough Road, West Barnstable, in Lecture Hall A in the Science Building (Building 6). This is not a talk by me but rather a listening session by MassWildlife to potentially revise hunting laws (like banning hunting contests) on carnivores. This meeting could be critical for actual reform. Read more here.
March 18, 2019. Humane Society launches multi-state attack on hunting contests. Here is a man whose values are not representative of the general population and he cannot accept that change in wildlife laws are forthcoming so he has to repeatedly denigrate the “liberal” values of the HSUS and similar people that don’t share his view. His comments of these contests are really telling: “They celebrate hunting (and) promote the sport”.
March 14, 2019. Coyote-killing contest dehumanizes us. This is a great editorial coming out of my hometown, Cape Cod.
March 12, 2019. In some fantastic news, New Mexico House approves ban on coyote-killing contests. It now just needs the governor to sign off on the legislation.
February 27, 2019. Animal Advocates Push for Vt. Coyote Hunting Regulations: The groups point to an incident this weekend, described by a homeowner as “extremely traumatic,” as one reason why new hunting rules are needed. Nationwide, there is growing momentum to see a change in wildlife management, specifically on carnivores like coyotes.
February 25, 2019. In Lobo land, a senator sticks (Jeff Steinborn) up for coyotes. This is a great article about a legislator in New Mexico that is trying to modernize wildlife management by valuing all animals – not just “game” (i.e., huntable) – and to eliminate hunting contests.
February 21, 2019. Killing contests: culture war losers flip the bird. This is a great article describing the reasons why the minority of people that participate in them do. The quote “The whole point is to be part of a gang doing the socially unacceptable” makes it even more outrageous that our state fish and wildlife agencies continue to allow these activities to occur.
February 15, 2019. How to humanely keep coyote away from your homestead. This is a nice article about coexisting with predators like coyotes.
February 14, 2019. Don’t believe anti-wolf hype-let science guide us. This is a great article about relying on science to make informed wildlife decisions.
February 10, 2019. How bobcats, coyotes, and foxes help my farm. This is a great article about the ecological importance of allowing predators to live on your land.
January 10, 2019. Coyote hunting contest in New York. I have been avoiding posting about these unnecessary and awful events which occur nationwide. They are so wasteful and promote hate of an ecologically valuable animal.
January 10, 2019. It’s tough sleeping at night: ranchers seek to protect herds as wolves move in. This is a good article coming from northern California.
January 4, 2019. Red wolf genes found on canids (thought to just be coyotes) on an island in Texas. What an interesting article; these canids seem to be similar to the eastern coyote/coywolf here in the Northeast. And here is a link to the scientific article from where the popular article from above came from.
