Colorado Chronicles: Coyote Chat
Welcome back to Colorado Chronicles and Hello from one of Project Coyote’s newest Colorado State Advocate Volunteers! I am so excited to start this journey with Project Coyote and get involved with canid conservation again. If you’re new here, you probably don’t know that focused my masters thesis on understanding the perception of southeastern coyotes. I absolutely fell in love with coyotes through this dedicated research. Dr. Chris Mowry’s passion for protecting the species also fed my appreciation for them. The most impressive thing I find about them is how adaptable they are, yet that is the very thing that most humans hate about them. I’ve made it my personal goal to change this perspective.
Through my grad school work, I discovered just how much social media, basic medica and personal experiences can impact how a person perceives coyotes. In one study, I compared the perception people had of coyotes before watching an informal-educational video and after watching said video. There was a significant change in perception after watching the video which just goes to show that education, information and relatability impact how people view a species and that people’s mind can be changed. I think this was the most important take away from my studies as so many of us are told that society is set in their ways and there may not be hope. I like to find the glimmers and coyotes are America’s glimmers.
Throughout grad school, I utilized Project Coyote’s website for resources and probably read everything single page they had published. So, becoming a Colorado State Advocate feels so right. I’ve already started understanding the differences between coyotes in here in CO and coyotes back in GA which isn’t much because coyotes are just as persecuted out here as they are in Georgia, but less so in urban environments potentially? I am still trying to figure that out because so much of Denver is environmentally friendly and the people here genuinely care about their environments and the other species that live there as well. I feel that people here have a better grasp on conservation than people in Atlanta. Regardless, stay tuned for more wild carnivore conservation chats!
