It is amazing that Coyotes still exist – even thrive – despite centuries of human efforts to exterminate them. Dan Flores’ masterful book Coyote America deserves the accolades and awards it has received. Not only does it thoroughly cover the natural history of Coyotes, but it provides quotes and documents confirming the U.S. Government’s declaration of war on coyotes, other predators and so-called “varmints.” Enhanced by factual evidence, scientific knowledge and his eloquent writing, Flores tells an illuminating and frankly, embarrassing tale of our recent past. He intends to advance a different vision for human/wildlife interactions based on tolerance and understanding.
Now Coyotes have moved into big cities, and wherever else they can survive. Their ability to adapt to living in major urban centers like New York, Chicago and Los Angeles is astonishing. We have them in our Seattle neighborhood, where they help control rat, mice, and rabbit populations. Seattle’s Coyote population is estimated to be 50. The U.S. population is between 2.9 and 4.7 million.
Recently, I was pleased to see a Coyote in Ravenna Park, one block from our home, as shown in the accompanying photos. It was lounging in a grassy meadow, surveying the scene. It calmly watched me, my wife and other humans walking and biking nearby. Flores’ quotes illustrate how we have all too often misunderstood, abused, and tried to exterminate them. Yet they still live among us in substantial numbers – even in major cities. You cannot help but admire the ability of Coyotes to survive and even thrive in such a hostile world.
QUOTES WOODY LIKED by Dan Flores, author of Coyote America: A Natural and Supernatural History – These offer a preview of Flores’ excellent book, as well as a summary of key points that help us all better understand and coexist with this much maligned but ecologically important animal.
“A coyote’s primary prey happens to be our close fellow travelers, the mice and rats that flourish around and among us in profusion.”
“In Denver coyotes had become an urban presence by the 1970s. Chicago, in the 1990’s was next, and by roughly 2000 almost every city in the United States and Canada, no matter how small and picturesque or sprawling and ear splitting, possessed a thriving population of coyotes as full-time residents.”
“Altogether, we kill about 500,000 of them (coyotes) a year in the United States.” 
“From the time the bison slaughter commenced in the 1820s, it took little more than half a century to clear the Great Plains of that ancient population of animals, which during spans of good weather must have approached 25 to 30 million animals. One effect of that species cleansing was to open up the great grasslands to domesticated animals.”
“We often express horror at animals that pursue and kill other animals, but such a response demonstrates a misunderstanding of our own evolutionary history. We have been a wildly successful species in part because of our predatory skills.”
“In our twenty-first-century world, the terms “genocide” and “ethnic cleansing” sit uneasily in the mind, associated with some of our darkest and most disturbing thoughts about human nature. They conjure Darfur, Serbia, Cambodia, and Pol Pot, and most vividly of all for many of us, the horrors in Europe before and during World War II. “Species cleansing,” on the other hand, is not a term that falls readily to hand, although we have engaged in it without much remorse for at least 10,000 years and probably more.”
“But the most old-fashioned research topic of all – an idea Western culture had known since the time of Aristotle as “the balance of nature,” the presence of a dynamic equilibrium in the natural world – began to push ecological science in the direction of understanding the role of predators. The Biological Survey’s policies (the federal predator control agency) assumed the European old position: predators were entirely disposable, and the banishment of wolves and cougars and coyotes from America would create a civilized paradise for deer and elk and ranchers and sheepmen.”
“The ecological niche breakthrough was critical for understanding wild coyotes and appreciating predators generally. In nature a “niche,” is analagous to an occupation in human culture.”
“Aldo (Leopold) had argued … for a revolutionary principle in human affairs: a recognition that other species in this world possess an innate right to existence.”
“The prime directive (in living safely with coyotes) is straightforward and delivered with an exclamation mark: For chrissake, do not feed coyotes and accustom them to associating food with humans! To avoid the most common human conflict with coyotes, don’t let your cats or small dogs outside at night.”
“Coyotes may also attack cats for the same reason they attack small dogs: they perceive domestic cats and dogs as intraguild predators operating in their territories. When coyotes attack dogs or cats, they most often don’t intend to eat them; they’re simply ridding their territories of roaming predators.”
Yes, there have been conflicts between humans and Coyotes. As the Urban Coyote Research Project says: “Although coyotes have been known to attack humans (and pets) and as such are a potential danger to people, especially children, risks are minimal and we feel that the majority of attack incidents could be reduced or prevented through modification of human behavior.” Most conflicts can be avoided by following the six steps on the Urban Coyote Research Project website: https://urbancoyoteresearch.com/coyote-info/how-avoid-conflicts-coyotes
My Coyote “Rave” published last year in the Seattle Times, echoes Flores’ views on coyotes and other wildlife. They enrich our lives and they fill vital ecological niches that we often don’t understand or appreciate.
Note: Since I wrote this Rave in 2023, cats are now ranked #2 behind habitat destruction.
Even at #2, outdoor cats still kill 1.3 – 4 billion birds per year. https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms2380
