Citizen Coyote
Reviewed by Linda DeStefano
“Citizen Coyote: Getting to Know Them – An Introduction” is an excellent 24 minute You Tube video available in English and Spanish. It provides a lot of information in a manner which is appropriate for elementary children right through to adults.
Janet Kessler took many photos of the coyotes she encountered in her walks in California as well as some videos, including the sounds of coyotes “singing.” Kessler clearly loves coyotes and wants to stop their persecution by people who unnecessarily fear them or find them a nuisance.
She uses a good teaching style geared to children by pointing out the similarities between people and coyotes, such as, both we and coyotes live in families and protect our children and our territory.
She says we now see coyotes in cities because people have destroyed much of their habitat. Also, sport hunters kill coyotes in rural areas but are not allowed to do so in the cities so coyotes feel safer in urban areas. And they can find plenty of natural food: fruit, rodents, birds, insects, etc.. They prefer this to our garbage so only a small per cent of their diet comes from garbage.
She advises that people are seldom approached aggressively by coyotes but it is always best to keep a safe distance away. If necessary, walk (do not run) away from the coyote. Keep dogs on a leach as the dog may chase the coyote – not good for either of them. Do not allow your cat or dog to wander and do not even leave them unsupervised in your yard as coyotes can scale a six foot fence.
Kessler encourages students to do coyote projects and send the information to her for possible posting on a webpage. She can be reached at coyotecoexistence@gmail.com
The video can be accessed at https://youtu.be/sZy3FJuVUbE
Linda is President of People for Animal Rights, P.O. Box 15358, Syracuse 13215-0358, people4animalrightscny@gmail.com, (315)488-PURR (7877) between 8 a.m. and 10 p.m. This article was translated in spanish by Rob English.
