It is with great sadness that we learned of the passing of Christina Russo, a passionate coyote/animal advocate and dedicated Project Coyote supporter.
As an award-winning freelance journalist, Christina brought attention to the plight of animals across the globe. She was a member of the Society of Environmental Journalists and published in many highly regarded media outlets, including National Geographic, Outside Magazine, and the Guardian. In 2018, she won a National Press Club Award, as well as a Genesis Award from the Humane Society of the United States, for her investigative journalism daylighting the illegal trade of elephants to Chinese zoos. Christina regularly reported on Zimbabwe’s exports of elephants to China for National Geographic‘s “Wildlife Watch.”
In 2020, Christina publicly shared about her personal medical condition in a profoundly moving piece published in Medium: “I Was a Journalist Who Reported on Captive Animals — Then I Became One. Her story captured the attention of Project Coyote Science & Ethics Advisory Board member Dr. Marc Bekoff, who interviewed her in his Psychology Today column, in which Christina shared:
So, my condition has made me think about zoo animals’ suffering, body and mind. I cannot overstate what a purposeless life feels like. I cannot overstate the despair that comes with seeing the same view day in and out. I cannot overstate loneliness, losing one’s autonomy, physical torment. Animals are designed to walk freely, smelling for water, eating berries, communicating with their friends and family, playing, hiding, digging, climbing trees, being… I’m grateful to anyone who reads my reportage—but as it pertains to this essay, anyone who works at a zoo, visits zoos, or thinks zoos are benign. I believe differently. And it took me some years to come to fully understand this.
I first met Christina in 2015, at Project Coyote’s headquarters in Mill Valley, California. She reached out to me through a mutual colleague wanting to learn more about Project Coyote and our work for wild carnivores. Within less than an hour I knew I had met a kindred spirit—a woman totally dedicated to making the world a better place for animals. She had an intense passion for coyotes. She radiated with empathy, compassion, and kindness as she shared stories with me about her work for animals as a freelance journalist—from spending 18 months producing a public radio documentary on the ethics of American zoos to writing about the capture of wild elephants from Zimbabwe for zoos in China.
Christina also mentioned her efforts to protect the coyotes living around her home in Gloucester, Massachusetts, including mobilizing local residents to protect a coyote family that had taken up residence in the surrounding woods. She had come to know and recognize each individual of the small pack and had connected with researchers interested in studying these eastern coyotes—a hybrid mix of coyotes and wolves. She was keenly interested in Project Coyote’s Coyote Friendly Communities program that provides assistance and resources to communities that want to promote coexistence and non-lethal solutions for living with our wild neighbors.
I knew from that meeting that Christina was 100% dedicated to doing all she could to foster appreciation and respect for wild lives of all kinds. Over the course of the next few years, Christina co-founded the Gloucester Coyote Project and we worked together to press elected officials to adopt proactive public education and outreach programs for the community. Christina invited respected, ethical wildlife photographers to document the coyote family, which helped promote awareness and acceptance for coyotes in and around Gloucester.
Splitting her time between Gloucester and Marin County, California, Christina also advocated for coyotes in her California home of Stinson Beach, not far from Project Coyote’s office. She came to know and recognize a coyote pair living in her community who were suffering from mange—a debilitating and often fatal disease caused by mites.
Christina and I worked together to help these coyotes by posting signs and informing residents about their presence and how to reduce negative encounters. She and her neighbor lovingly called the pair Two Big Ears and Junior; she continued documenting their presence over several years. In our last text exchange, Christina sent photos of these two coyotes to me and Project Coyote Advisory Board member Gina Farr. She was ecstatic that both had re-appeared after an absence, and both seemed to have fully recovered from mange.
I write this on the same day the world has learned of the passing of Dr. Jane Goodall, another formidable advocate for wildlife and wild nature. I feel a deep sadness for the loss of these two bright souls who dedicated their lives to making this a better world for all. RIP and may your beautiful legacies live on through the human and more-than-human lives you have touched.
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Christina Russo’s obituary Published in the Boston Globe:
https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/bostonglobe/name/christina-russo-obituary?id=59521024
