Learn to Love
Coyotes Deserve Our Respect, Not Our Fear
Coyotes are complex, social creatures with a cultural history dating back to before white settlers colonized the United States
As a kid growing up in Northern California, I was always aware of the fuzzy line between suburbia and the wilderness. The subdivision where my parents lived was only partially built; every time more construction started, rattlesnakes would turn up in driveways and backyards, trying to find a new home. Wild turkeys paraded around the streets in the morning as I waited for the bus. Bouncing on my friend’s trampoline one day, I made eye contact with two deer picking their way through the nearby blackberry brambles she had in lieu of a fence.
And, of course, there were the coyotes. My mom called them “KAH-yotes,” a holdover from her own childhood. With the windows open on summer nights, we could hear them singing. Sometimes we’d drive out to where the suburbs ended — it wasn’t far, my grandparents could get there on foot from their house — and sit in the car, listening to what sounded to me like sirens or hungry ghosts.
When I see them in Chicago, it feels like getting a postcard from a place that no longer exists.
