HOPE RYDEN – IN MEMORIAM

Hope Ryden passed away in June 2017. You can read Franz Camenzind’s moving tribute to Hope here, and below is more information about this tremendously accomplished and inspirational advocate of wildlife. She left an enormous and lasting legacy, and she will be forever missed by those of us who had the privilege of knowing and working with her.

Author-Naturalist Hope Ryden spent years in the field, studying and photographing North American wildlife. For two uncomfortable years, Hope camped in remote areas of Wyoming and Montana, observing and photographing the elusive coyote in an effort to discover the truth behind the ignorance and misinformation that has plagued this much-maligned animal for over two hundred years. Out of this research she wrote God’s Dog: A Celebration of the North American Coyote, which is considered the classic treatise on the subject and has prompted comparisons to Jane Goodall’s work in Africa. Her behavioral findings have been published in National Geographic, Smithsonian, and Audubon magazines, and her books have been translated into German, Swedish, Finnish, Norwegian, Dutch, Spanish, Italian and Russian. She had twenty-three books to her credit, all of which are illustrated with her own photography.

Hope was the recipient of many distinguished awards for her writings and work on behalf of coyotes and other wildlife, including the Art and Literary Award 2002 from New York State Outdoor Education Association; the Outstanding Achievement Award from Augustana College; the Humane Excellence Award ASPCA; the Joseph Wood Krutch Award from the Humane Society of the United States; the Animal Humanitarian of the Year Award from the Animal Protection Institute of America; the Humanitarian of the Year Award from the American Horse Protection Society; the Who’s Who of American Women; and the Who’s Who in the East.