Coexisting Skills

Coyote is a unique Keystone Carnivore, very capable of living among us, alongside us, near us. Other Keystone carnivores like wolves, grizzly bears, mountain lions tend to remain far away from human habitation. And as a result, the ecosystems where we live can often lack balance and be ecologically impoverished. So Coyote’s presence among us enriches the landscape and all the life that is there, including our own.

Handing Down …

However, the knowledge of how to live with this carnivore has not been handed down to us. Because our European ancestors had no knowledge of the value of carnivores and feared them, they had only one relationship with them ….they fear them …they killed them.

So we belong to a generation that has been given a challenge to reconsider our relationship with carnivores. We know so much more about them through our science, and so we have a choice: hand down to our children the continued killing of our carnivores, or teach ourselves how to live with them. What would you choose?

So how do we Coexist with Coyote?

Coexistence ~ that is, living in the same place in peace ~ requires learned skills that are practiced, passed on and shared. So the more we understand how our behavior affects coyote’s, the more we will understand that coexistence is possible. And since our generation is the front runner in this learning curve, we need to trust our ability to coexist with coyotes ….because they can do it with us.