I just watched the documentary, Killing Coyote. The most important part of the film was when a rancher was discussing his view of the coyote and said, "they're really crafty little critters, they have a sixth sense." This man is someone who is pro-killing coyotes as a way to manage their population. I wasn't expecting to see an example of symbolism in this film, but there it is. Based on the symbolic meaning that coyotes hold, this man has a hatred and fear of the coyote.
In books, literature, and Native American folklore, the coyote is portrayed as sly, tricky, and cunning. This label that has been placed on coyotes has influenced this man and many others. I am currently reading Paul Shepard's Thinking Animals, and it is made clear that through our learning about animals as children, we understand that animals have only one characteristic. What do children do when they act like a bear? Get on all fours and growl. This is what bears do. We are taught that this is all that bears do. What do children do when they want to act like a coyote? They get on all fours and move about slyly and cunningly. This is what we are taught that coyotes do. It is difficult to let go of these notions when they are taught to us from an early age and become set in our minds.
Some ranchers in the film are upset that coyotes invade their livestock, and sometimes kill sheep. When this happens, the ranchers feel they can prove their belief that coyotes are sly and conniving. They imagine that the coyote is sly, tricky and is purposely fooling the rancher by killing his sheep. They are unable to believe that any other explanation exists. Maybe they watched too many episodes of Looney Tunes? Through the study of coyote behavior it has been said that killing the coyotes as a way to protect livestock is actually a step backwards. When the coyote population is "controlled" the remaining female coyotes accomodate for those changes by breeding every year, rather than every two or three years and by having larger litters. The number of pups that survive increases during this time. With a larger litter and more pups to feed, the female coyote struggles to find food sources and then kills a sheep to feed her seven or eight or more pups.
Ranchers complain, "We've lost so many sheep!" They do not say this in compassion towards their sheep - they say this because their sheep equal dollar signs. When a coyote kills a sheep, a rancher loses money. When someone with the U.S. Department of Agriculture Damage Animal Control kills a coyote, the rancher doesn't lose money, and the employee hired to kill gets paid. Coyotes are killed as a free service to these ranchers. Traps are set that literally cut the paw off of the coyote and leave her on the ground to die. They are also killed by tricky and slyly placed neck snares and by rifles.
We have invaded the coyotes home by the business of agriculture - by producing sheep for wool and meat. Two entirely unneccesary things. The coyotes have adapted to humans taking over their land and homes. To this idea, the U.S. Department of Agriculture Damage Animal Control says that if coyotes were unable to eat livestock, they would eat deer and the deer population would diminish. Advocates for the coyotes stated the simple fact that this is not the case and that humans would still kill more deer than the coyote would. Another solution would be to stop breeding cattle and to allow the deer to eat the grass that the cattle use, this way the deer population would have a reliable food source and would not be in danger of extinction (in this particular scenario.)
Some scientists are attempting to reduce the number of pups in the coyote population, as coyotes without pups to feed are less likely to kill larger animals. They state, "We are not trying to reduce the number, we are trying to change their behavior." These scientists who show an insincere concern for the coyotes are trying to fool their reproductive biology. They are collecting coyotes from the wild and containing them in small pens, giving them drugs and performing experiments on them. The scenes shown give a sense of how stressful this is on the coyote, a wild animal who is now confined to a small cage in an unfamiliar environment. The coyotes are shown pacing back and forth in their cages.
The ranchers and Agriculture Department continue to insist that predators need to be managed. Again, since childhood, our views on animals have developed and we have been taught that predators are bad. We should fear them and for our safety and protection, it is ok to kill them. They are dispensible animals. As Paul Shepard reminds us in Thinking Animals, as children, we are shown that the predator symbolizes evil and we learn to have sympathy for the prey. We have been taught this rule in many Disney films.
In books, literature, and Native American folklore, the coyote is portrayed as sly, tricky, and cunning. This label that has been placed on coyotes has influenced this man and many others. I am currently reading Paul Shepard's Thinking Animals, and it is made clear that through our learning about animals as children, we understand that animals have only one characteristic. What do children do when they act like a bear? Get on all fours and growl. This is what bears do. We are taught that this is all that bears do. What do children do when they want to act like a coyote? They get on all fours and move about slyly and cunningly. This is what we are taught that coyotes do. It is difficult to let go of these notions when they are taught to us from an early age and become set in our minds.
Some ranchers in the film are upset that coyotes invade their livestock, and sometimes kill sheep. When this happens, the ranchers feel they can prove their belief that coyotes are sly and conniving. They imagine that the coyote is sly, tricky and is purposely fooling the rancher by killing his sheep. They are unable to believe that any other explanation exists. Maybe they watched too many episodes of Looney Tunes? Through the study of coyote behavior it has been said that killing the coyotes as a way to protect livestock is actually a step backwards. When the coyote population is "controlled" the remaining female coyotes accomodate for those changes by breeding every year, rather than every two or three years and by having larger litters. The number of pups that survive increases during this time. With a larger litter and more pups to feed, the female coyote struggles to find food sources and then kills a sheep to feed her seven or eight or more pups.
Ranchers complain, "We've lost so many sheep!" They do not say this in compassion towards their sheep - they say this because their sheep equal dollar signs. When a coyote kills a sheep, a rancher loses money. When someone with the U.S. Department of Agriculture Damage Animal Control kills a coyote, the rancher doesn't lose money, and the employee hired to kill gets paid. Coyotes are killed as a free service to these ranchers. Traps are set that literally cut the paw off of the coyote and leave her on the ground to die. They are also killed by tricky and slyly placed neck snares and by rifles.
We have invaded the coyotes home by the business of agriculture - by producing sheep for wool and meat. Two entirely unneccesary things. The coyotes have adapted to humans taking over their land and homes. To this idea, the U.S. Department of Agriculture Damage Animal Control says that if coyotes were unable to eat livestock, they would eat deer and the deer population would diminish. Advocates for the coyotes stated the simple fact that this is not the case and that humans would still kill more deer than the coyote would. Another solution would be to stop breeding cattle and to allow the deer to eat the grass that the cattle use, this way the deer population would have a reliable food source and would not be in danger of extinction (in this particular scenario.)
Some scientists are attempting to reduce the number of pups in the coyote population, as coyotes without pups to feed are less likely to kill larger animals. They state, "We are not trying to reduce the number, we are trying to change their behavior." These scientists who show an insincere concern for the coyotes are trying to fool their reproductive biology. They are collecting coyotes from the wild and containing them in small pens, giving them drugs and performing experiments on them. The scenes shown give a sense of how stressful this is on the coyote, a wild animal who is now confined to a small cage in an unfamiliar environment. The coyotes are shown pacing back and forth in their cages.
The ranchers and Agriculture Department continue to insist that predators need to be managed. Again, since childhood, our views on animals have developed and we have been taught that predators are bad. We should fear them and for our safety and protection, it is ok to kill them. They are dispensible animals. As Paul Shepard reminds us in Thinking Animals, as children, we are shown that the predator symbolizes evil and we learn to have sympathy for the prey. We have been taught this rule in many Disney films.
The definition of predator is: one that victimizes, plunders, or destroys, especially for one's own gain. It is interesting that this definition fits far better with the ranchers and the U.S. Department of Agriculture Damage Animal Control. The coyotes are not victimizing the sheep, they are practicing what they know of their own ecology. They are killing the sheep for nourishment and survival; their food sources are diminishing because land is being taken away from them. The rancher and U.S. DADAC are victimizing and destroying the coyotes in very cruel and inhumane ways for their own financial gain. It is also interesting that we label coyotes as sly and tricky, but their behavior does not exhibit these traits. This behavior is presented in the action of the ranchers and the U.S. DADAC. They exhibit this behavior to the extent of digging holes to hide their traps, wearing camouflage, hiding behind tall grass to shoot and kill coyotes, and imitating the coyote's call in order to kill an entire pack at once.
The relationships with animals that were presented in this film are based entirely on the symbolism that animals are given - these symbols that are unavoidable as they are such a huge part of our childhood and adult lives. The people who are killing these coyotes are doing so because they believe coyotes are "bad" animals. This is how they relate to animals - in a negative way, unable to look past their assumptions and what society has told them.
The advocates for coyotes show their compassion by abolishing these stereotypes. Unlike Treadwell, they are not trying to make friends with the coyotes, they are not living among the coyotes, and they are not presenting the coyotes as equals to humans. They are compassionate about the life of this animal and are pointing a finger at industry. They are able to be honest with the fact that we, as humans, have invaded so many homes of animals. The land that once belonged to wildlife is diminishing as we put a dollar sign on every move we make. One admirable sheep rancher states, of the coyotes, "They've always been here, before we were here."
I watched Grizzly Man and we'll have lots to talk about when I come to visit! My thoughts about this don't run as deep as yours, but I am mainly concerned with the issue of us taking over the animals natural habitat. Making their "home" smaller and smaller. I see more and more wild animals smeared on the road or running for dear life across a busy highway, no doubt they are confused as last season this was open field and now it's a big corporate campus! I know if I ran across an animal out on a nature hike my first instinct is fear - what will he do to me!? What should I do? Should I run or 'play dead'? But really, my concern is how do we respect their lives and their territory! Like Treadwell said, "I wouldn't go into a bear's home and shoot him with a gun!". Why do some think it's OK to do this? I will never understand that concept.
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