JULY 2020 IN THIS ISSUE:
Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.
~Margaret Mead
Since our last edition of Coyote Chronicles, the world has turned upside down. A pandemic crisis, combined with an historic social justice movement, is redefining what we consider “normal.” We are at a critical crossroads.
These challenges present a unique opportunity for systemic change—change that our planet, our society and our culture so desperately need. In fact, we are already seeing that change as people increasingly act; they engage for the causes they believe in. To remain silent in the face of certain cruelties, gratuitous violence, and waste is not an option. We must find our voices and speak up—for the animals, for the planet, and for the future.
This pandemic reminds us that this life is short and precious; that we must be more than bystanders when we see and feel injustice, oppression, and cruelty. As we navigate these turbulent times, I am heartened by the indefatigable work of our small but mighty Project Coyote team and our supporters who have renewed their commitment to our mission of promoting compassionate conservation and coexistence between people and wildlife through education, science and advocacy. I witnessed this dynamic earlier this month as members of our team spoke (virtually) before the Mendocino, CA Board of Supervisors to urge a shift away from killing to a more humane, ecologically sound and science-based approach to addressing human-wildlife conflicts. In Washington state, Project Coyote supporters and our coalition pulled together to submit a wealth of substantive comments supporting a proposed rule on wildlife killing contest scheduled for deliberation on August 1 and for a final vote on August 21.
In California, our representatives worked diligently to expose the barbaric trapping of a coyote in a cruel steel-jaw leghold trap, and our legal team is pushing for the stiffest possible prosecution for the rogue trapper who set this illegal device.
And across the nation, our supporters responded to our call to action by submitting comments to the US Fish and Wildlife Service in support of Mexican wolf recovery in the southwest.
Acts of service like this bring me hope—as well as a renewed commitment to our mission and to the animals with whom we share this earth. I am humbled and honored each day to lead this organization. And I am so deeply grateful for our team and our supporters who believe in our mission and back us every step of the way.
On behalf of the wild ones, I thank you for your steadfast support.
Camilla Fox
Founder & Executive Director
REFORMING PREDATOR MANAGEMENT ~ CALIFORNIA
Mendocino:
Following a contentious public hearing on July 14, the Mendocino County Board of Supervisors disappointed all who value our native wildlife by voting 3-2 to renew the “Integrated Wildlife Damage Management Program,” the County’s contract with USDA Wildlife Services. Supervisors Brown, McCowen and Gjerde voted in support of issuing the contract, authorizing Wildlife Services to use public dollars ($160K) to kill thousands of wild animals in the cruelest ways imaginable, largely at the behest of private ranchers. Project Coyote and the Mendocino Nonlethal Wildlife Alliance praised Supervisors Williams and Haschak for voting to oppose renewal of the contract, and both organizations vowed to continue pressing for humane reform in Mendocino County through public pressure, grassroots mobilization and litigation. Read more here and here.
Southern California:
Project Coyote has released a video depicting a coyote pup captured in an illegally set leghold trap in Valley Village, CA. Law enforcement agencies are currently investigating the incident for possible criminal violations. The video shows—in graphic detail—the coyote pup struggling in the trap with no cover in the searing summer heat. The pup suffered such severe injuries from the trap that it was later euthanized by Los Angeles Animal Services. “We commend the multiple law enforcement agencies involved in this case for their due diligence in investigating this incident, and we hope the trapper and anyone else responsible will receive the stiffest sentence possible under the law,” said Project Coyote Southern California Representative Randi Feilich, who produced the video. “Leghold traps were banned by California voters in 1998 so this trap set is clearly in violation of that law,” said Project Coyote Founder & Executive Director Camilla Fox. Read more here.
Humboldt:
Following efforts by Project Coyote and coalition partners, Humboldt County has entered into a new contract with USDA Wildlife Services that requires the agency to prioritize non-lethal mitigation measures in urban and suburban areas and that prohibits the killing of beavers. “Marin County led the way by ending its contract with Wildlife Services in 2000 and adopting a non-lethal cost-share program in place of lethal control,” said Camilla Fox, executive director of Marin-based Project Coyote. “We are so pleased to see other counties in California — and beyond — now considering alternatives to killing.”
Northern California:
In response to a lawsuit filed by wildlife advocacy groups, including Project Coyote, a California federal court ruled in April that the US Department of Agriculture’s Wildlife Services (WS) must restrict its use of bird-killing poisons in Northern California and stop setting strangulation snares and other traps in places like the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge Complex. The agreement also directs WS to analyze the environmental impacts of its killing of coyotes, bobcats, mountain lions and other wildlife in California’s “Sacramento District.” This 10-county region covers Colusa, El Dorado, Lake, Marin, Napa, Placer, Sacramento, Solano, Sonoma, and Yolo counties. Read more here.
REFORMING PREDATOR MANAGEMENT ~ COLORADO
Colorado is now the sixth state to ban wildlife killing contests! The massive effort put forth by Project Coyote and our allies, together with other organizations and incredible community support, resulted in the April 30 vote by the state’s Parks & Wildlife Commission that bans the contests for furbearers and certain small game species.
REFORMING PREDATOR MANAGEMENT ~ WASHINGTON
Washington state is now considering a ban on wildlife killing contests. Prior to the COVID lockdown, Camilla traveled up to testify before the Washington Fish & Wildlife Commission and to interview sympathetic commissioners for the new film in production about wildlife killing contests (more on that coming soon). We thank our Washington supporters who responded to our call to action and submitted comments to the Commission during the public comment period, and we are also grateful to former California Fish & Game Commission President Michael Sutton and Fishpond founder and CEO John Land LeCoq for co-authoring this Op Ed in the Spokane Spokesman Review supporting the proposed rule. The Commission is expected to vote on this issue on August 21st— and we are hopeful the vote will result in Washington becoming the seventh state in the nation to ban this barbaric practice.
REFORMING PREDATOR MANAGEMENT ~
KILLING GAMES FILM
Project Coyote’s compelling documentary KILLING GAMES ~ Wildlife In The Crosshairs is extending its reach with an expanded online presence. The film is currently available on the Wildlife Conservation Film Festival channel of xerb.tv, and will be available from August 16-23 on the Krakow Green Film Festival free streaming platform. Click here for more information.
COYOTE FRIENDLY COMMUNITIES
To remind us that despite all of the negativity we seem to be experiencing lately, our voices ARE being heard, each of us CAN make a difference, and every life matters: Project Coyote received a call recently from a woman in Southern California whose dog had attacked a coyote pup that had somehow made its way into her fenced yard. The pup appeared to be injured, and the woman had managed to get it into a crate but had been unsuccessful—despite concerted efforts—to get any agency to retrieve the pup for assessment and rehabilitation. Thanks to a lightning-fast response by our team—including Southern California Representative Randi Feilich and Program Associate Fauna Tomlinson—as well as fantastic work by our friends at Wildlife Care of Southern California, this little pup was reunited with his family.
We’re so grateful to all who reach out to us on behalf of the animals. Each of you—volunteers, activists, each caring heart, each principled steward of life and land—bolsters our ongoing efforts to help reform predator management and to encourage not only large-scale coexistence, but respect for each individual animal. Thank you for fortifying Project Coyote’s strengths; together we are saving lives, passing protective laws, and educating our neighbors in strategies for co-existence.
SCIENCE AND STEWARDSHIP
Science Advisory Board Member Adrian Treves recently published a paper titled, “Predator Control Needs a Standard of Unbiased Randomized Experiments with Cross-Over Design.”
Science Advisory Board Member Francisco Santiago-Ávila recently published “Myths and assumptions about human-wildlife conflict and coexistence.”
Science Advisory Board Member Joanna Lambert shares important information about the intersection of wildlife and the pandemic in her article, “Wolves and pandemics: Let’s not get medieval”; and in this article in which she is quoted, “The real reason we’re seeing more wildlife during the pandemic.”
Joanna also recently released this fascinating video about a phenomenon that, in various forms, is sweeping the world: Why are we acting like wolves at night?
Science Advisory Board Member Michael Nelson co-authored this intriguing paper entitled The moral residue of conservation.
Science Advisory Board Member Chris Mowry was actively involved in The hunt for Atlanta’s friendly black coyote.
Science Advisory Board Member Dave Parsons collaborated on the Op Ed Science must trump politics for wolves to survive.
PROJECT COYOTE ONLINE
Our team has joined the pandemic-induced trend of presenting previously in-person events via online platforms.
Executive Director Camilla Fox has recently been featured in the following podcasts:
- Las Cruces Community Radio, Earth Matters with Kevin Bixby: Coexisting with Carnivores (Kevin Bixby, Executive Director of The Southwest Environmental Center, talks with Camilla Fox and Suzanne Stone about coexisting with our native carnivores)
- PRN.FM, Resistance Radio with Guest Camilla Fox—YouTube link here (Environmental writer and best-selling author Derrick Jensen interviews Camilla). Upon hearing this podcast, one listener posted this comment on the Project Coyote Facebook page: “I have changed my mind about coyotes after listening to Derrick Jensen’s Resistance Radio podcast with Camilla Fox from Project Coyote. I even had a trapper out to talk about options after losing several chickens to predation (and probably some cats over the years), but something didn’t feel quite right about that. I’m so glad I listened and now I know we need to figure out how to live in harmony with these creatures that play an important role in keeping things in balance.”
- Animal Wellness Action, The Bloodbath of Killing Contests (Interview with Camilla Fox and Lain Kahlstrom)
Science Advisory Board member Dave Parsons recently collaborated with Kim Crumbo, a Leadership Council Member of The Rewilding Institute, to present a webinar chronicling the efforts to ensure the recovery of Mexican gray wolves—click here to view a replay of the webinar and read the post-webinar Q&A; and click here to read Dave’s Notes from the Field covering the issue. Following the initial public comment period, which ended June 15, Dave and Maggie Howell of the Wolf Conservation Center in NY had their related op-ed published in the Santa Fe New Mexican. Although the initial comment period—which garnered over 40,000 comments, largely in support of wolf recovery—is over, there will be another opportunity for official comments in four to six months. That comment period will be even more important than the one that just ended because the next product from US Fish & Wildlife Service will be a proposed rule and a draft Environmental Impact Statement—in other words, they will be revealing what changes they propose to make, which we are fairly certain will be less than what the relevant court order required and not sufficient to recover Mexican wolves. Stay tuned for updates about how you can help!
The second in our collaborative webinar series with The Rewilding Institute followed on June 30, when Project Coyote Science Advisory Board Member Adrian Treves presented “A Critical Evaluation of Legal and Illegal Killing of Native Predators.” Click here to view a replay of that webinar and read the related post-webinar Q&A.
KEEPING IT WILD
Coming soon: Project Coyote’s Youth Calendar photography contest—stay tuned!
NEW TEAM MEMBERS
Heather Cammisa
Program Associate Heather Cammisa: Heather hails from Colorado and will be helping Project Coyote expand its core programs and campaigns in her home state and throughout the country.
Sebastiano Cossia Castiglioni
Advisory Board Member Sebastiano Cossia Castiglioni: Sebastiano has been involved in animal welfare since he was 15. He is a global authority on plant-based business and investment and is dedicated to the worldwide promotion of a plant-based lifestyle and an animal-free food supply.
Dan De Vries
Wildlife Educator Dan De Vries: Many of you will recognize the name of “Citizen Dan.” He has been a Project Coyote volunteer for many years. We’re proud to have him as an official member of our Pack!
Erin Hauge
Program Associate Erin Hauge: Erin is a long-time Project Coyote volunteer and has been an invaluable representative and advocate for us at numerous events and legislative hearings on the West Coast. She is a certified California Naturalist and has a special interest in mountain lions.
Guy Galante
Wildlife Educator Guy Galante: Guy has been an active advocate for Sacramento-area coyotes for years and has been working with city officials and agencies to help a mother coyote who decided to make Midtown Sacramento her den site to raise her two pups. Sadly, a young coyote believed to be one of the pups was recently found dead. A necropsy was scheduled with CDFW a week after the body was recovered, and although the test results are not back yet, multiple signs indicate that rodenticide ingestion was the key factor in the coyote’s death. Guy and the entire Project Coyote team will continue to educate communities across the country about the dangers of rodenticides, the consequences of their use, and the benefits of implementing measures such as our Coyote Friendly Communities program.
Sarah Killingsworth
Wildlife Educator Sarah Killingsworth: In addition to holding down a full-time job as a family law attorney and maintaining her own website of astonishingly beautiful wildlife photography, Sarah is helping us breathe new life into our Keeping It Wild program.
Joanna Lambert
Science Advisory Board Member Joanna Lambert: Joanna has traveled the world observing many types of wildlife in their native environments, and studies carnivore nutrition and resilience throughout the Rocky Mountain West. She is currently at the University of Colorado – Boulder, where she is a Professor in the Program in Environmental Studies as well as faculty in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and the Center for Microbial Exploration.
RECENT NEWS
Michael Sutton and John Land Le Coq: Washington should ban wildlife killing contests (July 13, 2020)
Mendocino County rancher and others calling for non-lethal wildlife management (July 11, 2020)
Watch as Coyotes Roam the Empty Streets of San Francisco (Apr. 9, 2020)
California Court Approves Ban on Federal Wildlife Poisoning, Trapping (Apr. 7, 2020)
Wolves and pandemics: Let’s not get medieval (Mar. 30, 2020)
A Natural Classroom, Run by Wolves (Mar. 27, 2020)
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