By Hildur Palsdottir
An unsettling image of a coyote carcass marked the end of 2023 for me.
This wild creature was struck by a car and killed in my neighborhood. Distinct features confirmed quickly that this was the alpha female of a breeding couple I’ve been observing. This eerie discovery set the stage for a somber New Year’s Eve for me.
I have to admit, it took me by surprise how deeply affected I was by this image I received by email. I’ve been tracking these animals locally for a couple of years now, but I didn’t realize how deeply I cared for this individual. As part of the Long Island Coyote Study Group, I’ve been collecting scat for DNA and nutrition analysis, as well as gathering images and videos from camera traps. From a safe distance I’ve enjoyed learning about their family dynamics and feeding habits.
You should never attempt to befriend a coyote. With their Canine features they may remind you of your dog, but they’re not to be tamed or trained. When people make the mistake of feeding them, they quickly grow bold. In fact, naturalists and wildlife experts know that a “fed coyote is a dead coyote.”
They become problem animals and aggressive if they see us as part of the food chain. If you’re feeding your pets outside, please stop. All cats should be kept indoors. Secure your trash and compost piles. Instead coyotes promise to fill an ecological niche left vacant here by eradication of wolves. They seem to have a particular appetite for dumpster-diving racoons.
The Eastern Coyote has incorporated up to 25% wolf DNA in it’s genome and is therefore larger than their western relatives and can weigh up to 50 lbs. Adaptable and creative, coyotes have outsmarted us humans in our attempts to eradicate the wild. This mesocarnivore is thriving in the midst of human made extinction crisis. Despite targeted killings they have now settled in all the United States, except Hawaii.
Like us humans, coyotes get hit, injured and killed by cars. Of course, I knew that busy roads are a major threat to these animals. And this time of year, the yearlings disperse as parents prepare to mate again and often exhibit risky behaviors.
In fact, in February 2020 a wandering coyote was struck just steps away from where this female died. But this particular hit-and-run shook me to the core. I burst into tears at the sight of this killed coyote female. I remembered video footage of her caring for her offspring. I wondered how her partner dealt with her loss. I felt kinship.
Observing this family of coyotes, I had apparently started to care. Not just scientifically, but sincerely. Surely, this past year of devastating losses and tragedies from wars and terror didn’t stop my tears. But this image of a coyote roadkill was what burst open the floodgates. It was as if I needed permission from the wild to express my feelings fully.
This past year pained by human-made terror was the hottest year on record. In June, we experienced ominous orange skies while suffocating air pollution brought by winds from wildfires in Canada left a sour taste on our tongues.
I’ll never forget the end of the day on June 6 when the rising moon could not be discerned from the setting sun. Is this what our Long Island sunsets will look like if we don’t respond appropriately to human-made pollution? You can ask residents of New Delhi. The air quality we experienced June 6 is their “new normal.”
Nevertheless, it seems that “business as usual” just continues, as if nothing out of the ordinary happened this past year. Meanwhile, everything is at stake. A well intentioned colleague warned that I must not get attached like this to the animals I’m observing. Wildlife biologists are supposed to remain detached. I wondered why? My favorite poet, the recently deceased Mary Oliver wrote that: “Attention is the beginning of devotion.”
I’m increasingly convinced that the real solutions to the climate crisis are spiritual in nature. The climate crisis isn’t just a pollution problem, but a symptom of broken relationships. We must first pay attention in order to repair relationships. We must learn to care for each other and across species. Forests and ocean organisms exhale our inhales, we must with gratitude reconnect with the wild and learn to care for nature in its entirety.
We must observe the laws of nature if we plan to remain part of the magnificent fauna still living here on Earth. Like all wild and domesticated creatures on Earth we humans are limited by planetary boundaries. Our bodies are held here by gravity, we depend on natural resources, clean air and water. We’ve violated most of the planetary limitations that define our existence and yet we seem to think that with our technological advancement we can conquer nature.
When natural catastrophes strike, we aren’t superior to any other wild or domesticated creature. We are simply part of nature. Going to the Moon or Mars will NOT save us. Right here on Earth we are blessed with the perfect conditions for our lives, the right distance to the Sun and we still have access to breathable air.
In June, we were at the mercy of nature, wind and time for skies to clear again. We can’t cure natural resource extraction with environmental degradation. We have to slow down, pay attention and learn how to care deeply for the wild to repair our role in the ecosystem.
To learn how to co-exist with coyotes visit https://seatuck.org/coyotes/
