“It is my personal belief that when the last human has fallen, and the last skull lies on the irradiated earth, a coyote will come trotting out of some safe place. Don’t ask me where he’ll come from; but I believe that he will survive as he has always survived. The coyote will trot in his furtive, skulking manner, to the skull. He will approach it carefully with the caution borne of millenia of avoiding steel traps and snares and pitfall. He will cautiously sniff it. His educated nose will tell him that he no longer has anything to fear from the bleached remnant of a once great civilization. Taking a few short steps to get in the exact position, he will lift his leg.”
— Charles Cadieux, from his book Coyotes: Predators and Survivors
Hat tip to Camilla Fox of Project Coyote, and Coyote’s Facebook Fan Page. Photo by Matt Knoth.
For certain values of ‘inspirational and uplifting.’
;)
Now that’s what I call a happy ending. But you missed the bit where Raven flies over and drops one right onto the lacrimal bone.
spyder, I’d rather be pissed on by a coyote than pissed off by a coyote.
Or something.
I actually have been pissed off by a coyote. It was about 20 years ago, in Frank Raines County Park (Stanislaus County, in the del Puerto Canyon) and involved a theft of food. Of course.
I have yet to be pissed on by one, though.
My favorite coyote moment happened outside my kitchen window one morning in Morongo Valley. I was sitting at the table with a coffee cup in one hand,newspaper in the other and I just happened to look outside. Out my window walking up the wash, were at
least 6 or 7 coyotes. They stopped, all looked at me, I looked at them- this was over in a second or two but seemed longer, then they one at a time just vanished into the brush. Truly a magic moment…
Bill
http://morongobillsbackporch.blogspot.com
Coyotes have managed to survive the onslaught of human greed thus far, so why not survive beyond our greed. Perhaps a happy thought for those that realize that we are not the be all/end all of the universe.
Interesting thought.
Bill
www.wildramblings.com
Thank you for this little scenario, I will replay it every time I hear of someone who has killed or wants to kill a coyote. Personally, I think people hate them because coyotes are smarter than they are and can survive where humans can’t. Its hard to watch your betters trot over the hill unconcerned about your ire and feeling of trespass.
I was imagining a coyote would jump over the skull three times. Then he would laugh and say, “oh sorry, if you were Indian it would bring you back from the dead. Too bad for you.” Then it would trot off again.
Reminds me a little of Thomas King’s “Green Grass, Running Water”.
In trying to explain the troubles of the world, or at least the problems the characters find themselves in, Coyote can only respond, “All I did was dance a little, and sing a little.”
[paraphrase, don’t have the book with me]
[Maybe as much as anything, a comment on my lack of experience with coyotes. I can certainly see them pissing, dancing or singing when I’m gone…]
We here in the Big Apple were pretty pleased to see coyotes in Central Park in 1999 and again in 2006, although we did rather botch removing the second one. (Hey, we don’t let dogs run around loose either, and for good reason.)
Here is a wonderful song “Coyote My Little Brother” by Pete Seeger. It’s a live video with Johnny and June Carter-Cash bay in “the day.” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EtXj9yAyMJQ It’s worth a watch. The words will haunt you.