Celebrate National Coyote Day with the Project Coyote Pack!

Today is special; it’s National Coyote Day! The coyote, also known as a songdog or prairie wolf, is unlike any other species in North America. Popularized by the animated antics of Wile. E., but polarized due to fear based misconceptions. Persecuted by predator extermination programs, but persisted and even expanded their range in response.

Coyotes are the flagship species of Project Coyote. Their treatment represents the pinnacle of unethical and unscientific predator “management” in North America’s carnivores, yet their resiliency provides hope that coexistence is possible.

To achieve coexistence with coyotes, and all wildlife, we must first understand them and how to best support our wild neighbors. That is what today is all about! Celebrate coyotes by taking a moment to learn more about them and how you can help.

Why Do Coyotes Deserve a National Holiday?

• Coyotes keep rodent and rabbit populations in check
• Coyotes reduce the spread of rodent-borne zoonotic diseases
• Coyotes clean up our streets and ecosystems of carrion
• Coyotes limit mesocarnivore populations and increase bird diversity and abundance
• Just because! Coyotes, like everyone, belong and have right a right to exist

Why Do Coyotes Need You? 

• At least 500,000 coyotes are killed each year, of which approximately 64,000 are killed by the USDA’s Wildlife Services agency at taxpayer expense (as of 2021). Accurate numbers do not exist for how many coyotes are killed through “sport” or wildlife killing contests and this number is likely a very low estimate. Even with this low estimate, it translates to…
  • • 41,666 coyotes killed every month
    • 9,615 coyotes killed every week
    • 1,370 coyotes killed every day
    • 57 coyotes killed every hour
    • 1 coyote killed every minute
• Essentially no protections are offered to coyotes, allowing them to be poisoned, trapped, aerial gunned, and killed for bounties and in contests, 365 days a year, often in unlimited numbers.
• Indiscriminate killing of coyotes does not work to reduce coyote populations, increase prey populations or reduce human-wildlife conflict. Instead, indiscriminate killing disrupts social systems and subsequently encourages more breeding and migration, which can lead to increases in livestock conflict. Additionally, higher survivability of coyote pups follows the temporary increase in available prey after brief population declines.

Here’s How to Celebrate Coyotes on “Their” Day:

• Watch the new documentary American Bolshevik, detailing the history of the most hunted animal in America (the coyote) and featuring Project Coyote’s Founder & Executive Director, Camilla Fox, New Hampshire and Vermont Representative & Wild Canid Ecologist, Chris Schadler, and Ambassador, Dan Flores.
• Read Coyote America, written by Project Coyote Ambassador Dan Flores, or Coyotes in Our Midst, co-authored by Camilla Fox and available to download free of charge.
• Sign Project Coyote’s petition to ban wildlife killing contests on federal public lands.
• Promote coyote coexistence in your community: it’s a group effort to keep coyotes wild and safe from unintended habituation.
• Follow Project Coyote on social media (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok) to stay up to date on seasonal coexistence tips and how to protect native carnivores.
• Share this message with your own “pack”.

Thank you for being an active member of the Project Coyote pack! To help us grow our pack and protect America’s most persecuted carnivore, we encourage supporters who have the means to invest in Project Coyote by making a donation. We cannot do this work without you!

For the Wild,

Camilla Fox
Founder & Executive Director
Project Coyote