For Wayne Grady, it was on a cold, clear night in
eastern Ontario, Canada, when he heard coyotes howling: “The sounds
seemed to tremble on the verge of language, to be, almost
literally, the voice of the wilderness.” This recollection
introduces The World of the Coyote, a glossy book about the
canine’s habits and history. Grady tells of the “coyote wars’ of
the mid-19th century, when more than 2 million coyotes were
destroyed, and says today the federal government kills 97,000
coyotes each year. Yet coyotes continue to extend their range and
increase in number. From the “Trickster” of Native American legends
to the greedy, gullible Wile E. Coyote, Grady says, the coyote
reminds us of this simple truth: “Attempts to remove the coyote
from our midst are a symbol of our arrogant assumption that we can
control nature.”
Sierra Club Orders, 730 Polk
St., San Francisco, CA 94109 (415/291-1600). 1994. $25 hardcover.
72 color photos, 144 pages.
* Pam
Ostermiller
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Uncontrollable coyote.
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