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Coyote- a Wily, New Emblem for the Anthropocene? Why One of the Most Reviled Predators in North America Could Change Conservation Forever

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Coyote- a Wily, New Emblem for the Anthropocene? Why One of the Most Reviled Predators in North America Could Change Conservation Forever Georgia State University ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University Anthropology Theses Department of Anthropology 8-10-2021 Coyote- A Wily, New Emblem for the Anthropocene? Why One of the Most Reviled Predators in North America Could Change Conservation Forever. Kimberly Myers Georgia State University Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/anthro_theses Recommended Citation Myers, Kimberly, "Coyote- A Wily, New Emblem for the Anthropocene? Why One of the Most Reviled Predators in North America Could Change Conservation Forever.." Thesis, Georgia State University, 2021. https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/anthro_theses/165 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Department of Anthropology at ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University. It has been accepted for inclusion in Anthropology Theses by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Coyote- A Wily, New Emblem for the Anthropocene? Why One of the Most Reviled Predators in America Could Change Conservation Forever. by Kimberly Myers Under the Direction of Frank L’Engle Williams, PhD A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Masters of Arts in the College of Arts and Sciences Georgia State University 2021 ABSTRACT Human populations have grown dramatically in the last century. Animal species have responded in different ways, some adapting and exploiting human urban centers, like squirrels and raccoons. While other larger mammals, and predators specifically, are often extirpated. Since the 1970’s it is estimated the earth has lost 58% of wild vertebrate life, while humans and domesticates make up 96 % of biomass. In contrast, coyotes have thrived despite being targeted by federal wildlife agencies as a pest species, and this is why they are currently being studied by an array of scientists such as biologists, anthropologists, and ethologists. A growing body of research indicates that current lethal removal methods of predators, especially coyotes, is less effective than non-lethal interventions. This thesis will interpret several evolutionary, historic, and anthropogenic factors that have led to the current "coyote situation" and how future wildlife management might be improved for both people and wildlife. INDEX WORDS: Canids, Canis latrans, Canis lupus, coyote Copyright by Kimberly Myers 2021 Coyote- A Wily, New Emblem for the Anthropocene? Why One of the Most Reviled Predators in North America Could Change Conservation Forever. by Kimberly Myers Committee Chair: Frank Williams Committee: Jennifer Patico Bethany Turner Electronic Version Approved: Office of Graduate Services College of Arts and Sciences Georgia State University August 2021 iv DEDICATION I dedicate this thesis to my grandfather, Gary Mills, who was just one of the hundreds of thousands of Americans, and millions more world-wide, who lost their lives during the Corona virus pandemic in 2020. v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank my graduate advisor and mentor Frank L’Engle Williams for all of his support and unfailing encouragement during my time at Georgia State University. He never failed to encourage me to pursue my own research interests. It has truly been a pleasure to be mentored by him. I would also like to thank my other committee members, Dr. Jennifer Patico and Dr. Bethany Turner, for their time, feedback, and efforts to improve my graduate thesis. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ......................................................................................................... v LIST OF TABLES ..................................................................................................................... viii LIST OF FIGURES ..................................................................................................................... ix BACKGROUND ........................................................................................................................... 1 CHAPTER 1 A Brief Recounting of 40 Million Years of Canis latrans Natural history ................... 4 CHAPTER 2 Coyote Finishes the People and Other Hominin Mythologies of an American Canid ........................................................................................................................................... 14 CHAPTER 3 Puritans, Progressives, and Predators .......................................................................... 21 CHAPTER 4 The Great Dying That Never Ended ............................................................................. 36 CHAPTER 5 Leopold’s Legacy and the Fight for the Future of Conservation ............................... 45 CHAPTER 6 The North American Conservation Model ................................................................... 58 CHAPTER 7 Privileges but No Obligations, Justifying America’s Oldest War .............................. 75 vii CHAPTER 8 The Anthropocene or the Age of Galus galus domesticus? .......................................... 93 CHAPTER 9 Landscapes of Fear and Biodiversity ............................................................................ 98 CHAPTER 10 Conclusions, Wolves, Willows, and the Hope of Rewilding ...................................... 109 CHAPTER 11 Recommendations, the New Principles of Rewilding ................................................ 117 BIBLIOGRAPHY ..................................................................................................................... 124 viii LIST OF TABLES Table 1.1 Diagnostic Traits of the Canids ...................................................................................... 6 Table 2.1 Evolution of the Canids .................................................................................................. 9 Table 3.1 The Tenets of the North American Conservation Model ............................................. 59 Table 4.1 USDA Animal Damage Control Estimates 2010-2020 for Six Native Predators ........ 76 Table 5.1 Causes of High Rates of Human Lyme disease Infection .......................................... 102 Table 6.1 The New Principles of Rewilding ............................................................................... 118 ix LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1.1 Buffalo skulls to be ground into fertilizer, 1870. Image credited to the Burton Historical Collection, Detroit Public Library.................................................................... 29 Figure 2.1(Above) Cougars killed for bounties. Public domain photo credit: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/30/Market_hunting_of_cougars.jpg . 39 Figure 3.1(Below) Bobcat and coyote hunters. Image credited to the Wisconsin Historical Society, Image ID:91003https:// www.wisconsinhistory.org/Records/Image/IM91003. 40 Figure 4.1 (Above) A trailer loaded with coyotes. Eastern U.S. Predator Calling Championship in Wytheville, Virginia on January 19, 2020. Image credited to Wolf Patrol, 2020. ....... 89 Figure 5.1 Truck bed filled with fox. Eastern U.S. Predator Calling Championship in Wytheville, Virginia on January 19, 2020. Image credited to Wolf Patrol, 2020. ............................... 89 Figure 6.1 A feral cat with an American robin. Plate from Forbush, 1916. Image credited to Library of Congress. ....................................................................................................... 100 1 BACKGROUND Once found most commonly in the Western United States, since the early 1900’s coyote (Canis latrans) populations in the U.S have rapidly increased. This population rebound and expansion immediately followed the widespread extirpations of native North American predator species like wolves (Canis lupus) and mountain lions (Puma concolor) in the early twentieth century. The coyote has since successfully colonized every state except Hawaii (Hody and Kays 2018; Hinton et al., 2019). They can now be found in every major urban center in Canada and North America, and in cities such as Atlanta, L.A, Chicago, and New York. Today, the coyote even seems well poised to colonize South America from populations in Central America (Flores, 2019; Gerht; 2006; Monroy et al., 2020). No other North American predator has rebounded so quickly or increased their ranges in this way after the federally funded carnivore extermination efforts that occurred in the early and mid-1900’s, and in many ways, are still going on today (Bekoff, 1995; Flores, 2016). For over a century the U.S federal government has been using generally the same lethal measurements to manage millions of wild animals like prairie dogs, wolves, coyotes, and beavers (Shivik, 2015; USDA APHIS, 1996-2020). In 2019 Wildlife Services, a branch of the federal government that manages native and invasive wildlife, removed some 61,000 coyotes at considerable expense to taxpayers, all having little to no effect in slowing coyote population expansion or increasing game animal numbers, which are controlled by forage growth and climate conditions. Despite a pandemic, in 2020, Wildlife Services removed even more coyotes, 62,700, than it did in 2019. However, the rationale, ethics, and efficacy of these randomly implemented lethal control methods have been continuously disputed by biologists for almost a century now (Frank, 1924; 2 Leopold, 1934, 1944; Cain et al., 1971; Gese, 2005; ASM, 2012; Peterson and Nelson 2016; Artelle et al., 2018; Treves et al., 2019). A growing body of research indicates that random lethal control of predators and native species like
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