Howling

I am listening to plaintive howls that fill the clear evening air.  On a normal night the howling would roll across our small valley and be joined by other voices from the ridge as well as our various dog enclosures.  All of it blending into a canine chorus singing some ancient song.

But this night, like the last few nights, the sound is different.  None of the dogs join in, no answering howls from across the valley or along the ridge.  There is just the one voice and I can barely see the backside of our Malamute mix Takaani as she points her muzzle up to the stars and sounds out her requiem for her siblings.

Until recently, Takaani spent her life in close proximity to her brother Juno and sister Siku.  They ate, slept and played together, and followed the ranch truck as we did chores.  They were inseparable.

Like most Malamutes, Takaani, Siku and Juno were large but harmless.  They would run to greet visitors but had no inclinations as watch dogs.  So when they noticed the strangers on our property across the street the three of them trotted over to investigate.  Their innocent curiosity delivered them into the sights of three well armed coyote hunters.  And even though they were seventy to eighty pounds larger than coyotes and had distinctive Malamute face and body markings, Siku and Juno were shot and killed, their bodies left to rot amongst the sage.

This type of wanton heartless killing is not new to me.  Since establishing our wild horse sanctuary in the Northeastern section of California I have been in conflict with the coyote hunting community in my efforts to protect the numerous pairs of coyotes who keep our hay fields clear of ground squirrels. 

I have seen coyotes shot from low flying aircraft, chased by trucks, shot at from main roads out of passing vehicles, and hunted in every way, shape and form one can imagine, their bodies hung on fence lines to thwart other coyotes; a myth that will not go away despite research that proves the practice to be silly and without any preventive value.

This war on coyotes has been going on for more than one hundred years.  In California  alone, more than a half million coyotes have been killed by any means necessary at a cost of thirty million tax dollars.  There are those who believe that coyotes are necessary for a healthy ecological balance.  Others feel the coyote is responsible for the loss of young livestock and even the decline in some game animals.  But biologists, who have long studied coyotes, agree that as a whole coyotes are not that destructive and may even be helpful as rodents make up a large portion of their diet. 

 But despite research and the budding success of non lethal predator control methods, the myths persist and fueled by a surge in predator hunting magazines, there is a new interest in killing coyotes by urban weekend hunters using AR-15 assault rifles equipped with sophisticated scopes. 

 Unlike agricultural interests, who at least believe they are protecting their livelihood, this nouveau urban army has one interest only; to kill.  Even the most cursory search of coyote hunting forums reveals a callus disregard for suffering as hunters brag about lung shots and long blood trails from animals trying to drag themselves to safety.  

 And so, it was into this controversy and burgeoning interest in killing coyotes as sport that our young innocent dogs wandered.  They were oblivious to the arguments, studies, and rationalizations.  They just wanted to say hello.  The irony of their innocence confronting the human propensity for violence was as real as the nauseous waves of grief that rolled through me as I struggled to carry Siku’s heavy, lifeless body up the hill to my truck.

  No matter how I cut it, paint it, excuse it, there was no reason for Juno and Siku to have been killed.    And in this month of April, which is animal cruelty awareness month, perhaps each of us needs to examine why any animal should die like they did; needlessly. 

 As I see Takaani sleeping alone in the living room I remember the pain and sadness of her siblings’ deaths and I want to do what she does, howl into the night sky.

(this op-ed piece will apear in the Lassen County Times April 28 09) There is a $2000 reward for information leading to the arrest of those responsible, on animal cruelty charges.