Author: Kodkod

A Call to Protect Alberta’s Wildlife

I wanted to bring attention to a heartfelt and powerful open letter sent on May 5, 2025 by the Alberta Wilderness Association (AWA), co-signed by scientists and community groups. It’s addressed to Minister Todd Loewen, asking him to rescind recent wildlife‑management changes that threaten Alberta’s keystone and vulnerable species

Here’s what they’re asking to be reversed:

  • Female cougar hunting quotas more than doubled
  • Six new cougar‑management areas opened with non-zero quotas
  • Expanded special‑licence hunting for at‑risk mountain goats
  • Legalized public hunting of “problem” grizzly bears, a Threatened species
  • Lifted quotas on furbearers such as wolverines, fishers, Canada lynx, and river otters

These decisions were made without proper scientific backing, public consultation, or respect for Indigenous and conservation voices.

AWA is clear: “Wildlife in Alberta is shared by all Albertans…decisions that affect wildlife—and especially keystone species—must be informed by the best available science”

Why this matters

Alberta’s wild lands aren’t just scenic backdrops—they’re living, breathing systems where every creature plays a part. Cougars, grizzly bears, wolverines, lynx… they help maintain ecological balance. When management decisions are made hastily or influenced by narrow interests, entire ecosystems suffer.

History shows the best way to protect wildlife isn’t needless hunting—it’s protecting habitat, consulting science, and nurturing coexistence.

What you can do

  1. Please sign and share the petition demanding the Alberta government revoke these harmful hunting and trapping changes:
    👉 Protect Alberta Wildlife – rescind unscientific hunting & trapping changes
  2. Spread the word—on social media, in your community, even in conversations over coffee. The more voices, the harder it is to ignore.

This isn’t just about policies on paper—it’s about every wild creature that still roams freely. Let’s demand decisions guided by science, transparency, and respect for all who share this land.

With hope and solidarity,
Kodkod 🐾

Meet the Güiña: The Tiny Wild Cat of Southern Chile

Photo by Pía Vergara, via Ladera Sur

The güiña, also known as the kodkod, is the smallest wild cat in the Americas—and one of the least known. But this rare feline has a big story. Native to the temperate rainforests of southern Chile and parts of Argentina, the güiña is elusive, solitary, and deeply woven into the landscape and culture of the region.

Its Mapudungun name—“güiña”—is a reflection of the Indigenous roots of its homeland. The scientific name, Leopardus guigna, may sound big, but the cat itself is tiny—usually no larger than a house cat, with spotted fur, rounded ears, and a tail nearly as long as its body.

Despite its small size and shy nature, the güiña plays an important role in its ecosystem as a predator of small mammals and birds. Sadly, its forest home is shrinking. As logging, agriculture, and urbanization continue to spread, the güiña faces increasing threats from habitat loss and fragmentation. It’s also sometimes killed by humans who mistakenly believe it preys on chickens or other domestic animals.

Today, the güiña is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List. With an estimated population decline of over 30% in the past decade, conservation efforts are more important than ever.

Credit: Photo taken at the private facility of Fauna Andina, Nov 2024 . By an unidentified contributor, via ZooChat

But there is hope.

Many organizations and researchers are working to protect this mysterious little feline. Here are a few ways you can help:

The güiña may be small, but she carries an ancient spirit—one that deserves space, safety, and a future. 🌲🐾

Photo credit: Nicolás Gálvez, via Wikimedia Commons

El Zorro Chilote: A Tiny Treasure at the Edge of the World

Photo of a zorro chilote (Darwin’s fox) shared by u/ErickYj on Reddit. Source

Have you ever heard of the zorro chilote? Also known as Darwin’s fox, this little zorro lives deep in the temperate rainforests of southern Chile. With dark fur, curious eyes, and a secretive nature, the zorro chilote is one of the most special creatures of our land. He’s tiny—smaller than most other foxes—and only found in a few places, like Chiloé Island and the Valdivian forests of the mainland.

What makes the zorro chilote unique isn’t just his size—it’s his wild, mysterious heart. He belongs only to Chile. Nowhere else in the world does this species exist. He walks silently through the shadows of the native forest, where trees drip with moss and the ground is soft with fallen leaves. Like the güiña (kodkod), he’s part of an ancient web of life that has existed for thousands of years.

But today, this beautiful fox is in danger.

With deforestation, development, and dogs introduced by humans, the zorro chilote has fewer places to hide and hunt. The species is now considered endangered, with fewer than 1,000 individuals believed to remain in the wild. His world is disappearing—and with it, a piece of our soul.

Zorro chilote with pup.
Image originally shared by ProAraucanía in 2013, no photographer credited.

How you can help

There are still ways to protect this little guardian of the forest:

  • Support WWF’s symbolic adoption program, where you can symbolically adopt a Darwin’s fox and help fund global conservation efforts: WWF Adoption Page
  • Donate to Chiloé Silvestre, a local grassroots organization in Chile that works on behalf of the zorro chilote and other native species: Chiloé Silvestre Website
  • Learn more and support Fauna Australis and ONG Convivencia Humano-Fauna, two other organizations committed to wildlife research and coexistence in southern Chile.

The zorro chilote may be small, but his spirit is mighty. Let’s help make sure this little fox has a future—wild, free, and protected.

Hidden Cruelty: Speaking Out Against Penned Dog Hunts in Ontario

By Kodkod | Coyote Pretty

There are still places in Canada where foxes, coyotes, and rabbits are locked inside fenced enclosures—not to be rehabilitated or protected, but to be hunted for sport.

In these penned hunting facilities, dogs are released to chase, terrorize, and often kill wild animals that have no way to escape. Hunters call it “training.” But investigations show the truth: it’s bloodsport. It’s cruelty. And it’s still happening.

Recently, Animal Justice filed a lawsuit against the Ontario government, challenging the issuance of three illegal licences that appear to allow penned hunting facilities to operate in violation of the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Act. These licenses permit the use of large hound breeds—such as foxhounds, coonhounds, and bloodhounds—to chase red foxes for “training” and competitions, despite clear regulations that prohibit this unless strict conditions are met. None of the three sites in question meet the legal pen size requirements.

An undercover investigation in 2023 by Animal Justice revealed that wild animals used as bait are routinely injured, mauled, and killed. Pen owners have admitted to replenishing wildlife throughout the year—foxes and coyotes caught and used again and again.

Worse still, no inspections have been conducted at these facilities for at least two years. The system is broken—and these animals are paying the price.

Ontario remains the only province in Canada that still allows this practice. Even most U.S. states have banned it.

This is not just a wildlife issue—it’s an animal cruelty crisis.

📣 Read more about the lawsuit and investigation: https://animaljustice.ca/media-releases/animal-justice-sues-ontario-over-cruel-penned-dog-hunting-licences

🧡 If you’re able, please support Animal Justice’s court battle here: https://animaljustice.ca/donate

Coyotes and foxes deserve better than this. So do the dogs forced to become weapons.

#CoyotePretty #AnimalJustice #StopPennedHunts #Coexistence

A Victory for Wolves 🐺💚

Some hopeful news from Alberta—the province has officially ended the use of Compound 1080 to poison wolves. This change follows years of advocacy from Animal Justice and other wildlife protection groups. While it’s a significant step forward, the poison remains legal for use on coyotes, meaning the work isn’t over yet.(Animal Justice)

Compound 1080 is a highly toxic substance that causes immense suffering to animals and poses risks to non-target wildlife and pets. The cessation of its use on wolves marks a meaningful shift towards more humane wildlife management practices.

You can read the full article here: Victory! Alberta Ends Use of Compound 1080 on Wolves

Let’s continue to advocate for the protection of all wildlife and the elimination of harmful poisons from our ecosystems.

Repost: Environmental Action, These are some of our favorite wolves that you may not know much about

For as long as humans have lived on Earth, wolves have existed alongside us, from the tundra of North America to the islands of Japan. Here are just a few of the world’s remarkable wolf species.

Arctic wolves are a sub-species of gray wolf that lives in the frozen northern tundra. Their beautiful white coats enable them to blend into their snowy surroundings as they hunt for arctic hares, lemmings and even caribou and bulky muskoxen.

In some ways, arctic wolves are lucky to live in such a distant part of the globe. Their isolation makes them one of the only grey wolf sub-species to not be threatened by widespread hunting. However,increased mining and oil drilling may put their food supply at risk.

The rare and mysterious Ethiopian wolf lives in Ethiopia’s highlands. Fewer than 500 of them survive in the wild, making them one of the most endangered wolf species in the world.

These wolves have some of the most unusual diets of wolf species including, of all things, nectar! The highlands of Ethiopia contain large flowers, which the wolves have learned to lick for the sweet liquids inside.

But the flowers have the last laugh. When the wolves steal nectar, their noses become caked in pollen, which then gets transferred between flowers. This unusual relationship makes wolves the world’s biggest carnivorous pollinators.


Japanese folklore is full of stories about wolves. The Japanese wolf, known for its tiny ears, lived for thousands of years in Japan. Although they were technically a sub-species of gray wolf, the Japanese wolves diverged from their larger cousins and soon became genetically distinct.3

Tragically, the Japanese wolves are no more. The entire species was wiped out by the early 1900s after a systematic extermination campaign. Now, they remain only in story and myth.

The tragic tale of the Japanese wolf should remind us that we can’t take any species for granted. And once a species is wiped out, there’s no way to turn back the clock.


The environmental action team has been around since the first Earth Day in 1970, and their whole mission is to protect wildlife and wild places by helping people take meaningful action. From speaking up for wolves and bees to keeping our air and water clean, they’re doing important work.

They also have a little online store where you can grab eco-friendly gear and gifts that help support the cause—things like stickers, wildlife-themed tees, and more. And if you’re in the spirit to give back, they make it easy to donate directly to their campaigns.

You can learn more at environmental-action.org or check out their store here.

Mother Nature’s Design: How Coyotes Stay Wild

“Even if a litter of coy-dog pups is successfully reared by the mother alone, these hybrids must later face still-greater obstacles…”
— Hope Ryden, God’s Dog

There’s something quietly powerful about the way Mother Nature watches over the coyote.
Though domestic dogs and coyotes can sometimes mate, nature steps in — with timing, instinct, and biology — to gently hold the coyote’s wildness in place.

It’s not rigid or aggressive.
It’s simply designed that way.

A Matter of Timing

Coyotes follow a different rhythm than domestic dogs.
They breed only once a year, in late winter — a natural clock set by the land itself.

Dogs, on the other hand, can mate at any time.
So while a pairing between a male dog and a female coyote is possible, it’s rare.
And what happens next is even more interesting.

Hope Ryden’s Wisdom on Coy-Dogs

In her beautiful and thorough book God’s Dog, author and naturalist Hope Ryden explains how hybrid offspring — called coy-dogs — quickly lose their connection to the wild.

“Both male and female coy-dogs come into heat in the fall, three to four months earlier than do pureblood coyotes. Thus, they can never mate back to the wild side of their family.”

In other words, they’re out of sync.
Their internal calendar doesn’t match that of wild coyotes —
so they can’t pass their genes back into the coyote world.

And Then Comes Winter…

Even if coy-dogs do find mates, their litters are born in the middle of winter —
the hardest time of year for pups to survive.

“Any issue born to it must meet life during the harshest time of year, in midwinter, and the prospect of such an unfortunate litter surviving under wild conditions are poor indeed.”

Unlike coyotes, who raise their young as a pair, male coy-dogs tend to follow their domestic lineage — they don’t help care for the pups.
So the mother is left alone, in deep winter, with little chance of feeding or protecting her young.

“It is doubtful, therefore, that a coy-dog female can, by herself, find sufficient food during the winter months to nurse and feed a litter.”

What Does This Mean?

It means that over time, Mother Nature quietly prevents hybridization.
Not through force — but through timing.
Through seasons.
Through the instincts written into every heartbeat.

Coyotes remain wild not because they resist change…
but because they are already perfectly adapted to their place in the world.

“It is unlikely that a race of wild coy-dogs has arisen or ever will arise,”
Ryden concludes.

Something to Marvel At

Rather than fearing “mongrelization,” or trying to interfere with wild populations, we might simply pause and admire the subtle brilliance of nature’s system.

Coyotes aren’t broken.
They don’t need reshaping.
They already belong — exactly as they are.

What About Black Coyotes?



If coyotes are so protected by Nature, you might wonder — what about the black ones?
Like Carmine, the striking black coyote seen in urban and forested landscapes — where did he get his rare coat?


The answer is both surprising and beautiful.


Black coyotes carry a genetic mutation that originally came from domestic dogs.
Scientists believe the black coat gene — a variation on the K locus — was introduced into the coyote population thousands of years ago, likely through early contact with Indigenous dogs in North America.


But here’s where Nature steps in again.


Instead of allowing the entire coyote species to change, Mother Nature selected for the black coat only in places where it helped them survive — in wooded environments, where dark fur offers camouflage and better hunting advantage.


So yes — the origin of the black coat is domestic.
But its presence today? That’s natural selection at work.


Coyotes like Carmine are still wild, still part of the songdog lineage —
they just carry a mark of something ancient.
A soft echo of a one-time crossing.
A reminder that even when genes mix, Nature decides what stays.


Is Carmine Really a Coyote?


Yes — DNA testing at Yellow River Wildlife Sanctuary confirmed that Carmine is 100% coyote.
Though some people question his black coat, it’s important to know that black coyotes are naturally occurring, especially in places like North Carolina, parts of the southeastern U.S., and other warmer forested regions.


The black coat comes from a recessive gene (on the K locus) that was introduced long ago through ancient contact with domestic dogs. But over generations, this gene became part of the natural coyote population and is now selected for in certain environments, especially where dark fur offers better camouflage.


So while the origin of the coat color may be ancient, Carmine’s spirit, genetics, and behavior remain fully wild.


His appearance may challenge expectations —
but his essence is pure songdog.

🐺

Meet the Ethiopian Wolf: The Rarest Wild Canine in Africa

An Ethiopian wolf watches the highlands. Photo by Shutterranger (via Rainforest Trust)

Graceful. Solitary. Endangered.

You may never have heard of the Ethiopian wolf—and you wouldn’t be alone.
It’s one of the world’s most endangered canids, with fewer than 500 individuals left in the wild. Yet this elegant, fox-like creature has roamed the highlands of Ethiopia for thousands of years.

Photo by Delphin Ruche, courtesy of the Ethiopian Wolf Conservation Programme (www.ethiopianwolf.org). Used for educational and awareness purposes

I first learned about them through a nature documentary. They looked like red coyotes, slender and alert, moving through mist-covered grasslands like spirits of the mountain.

But they’re not coyotes—they’re Canis simensis, a species found nowhere else on Earth.

They live high in the Ethiopian mountains, in places where the air is thin and the land feels ancient. They hunt alone, feeding mostly on rodents like mole rats and giant grass mice. Yet they live in close-knit family packs, with deep social bonds and a quiet strength.

Like many wild animals, their biggest threat is not nature—it’s us.
Habitat loss. Disease from domestic dogs. Climate change. Isolation.
And still, they endure.

The Ethiopian wolf may be rare, but it matters.
It reminds us that wildness still exists in corners we’ve forgotten.
And that every species deserves to be seen.

If this beautiful canid touched your heart, here is an organization you can check out:

Photo by Will Burrard-Lucas, from The Ethiopian Wolf Project. Used with respect for educational awareness.

https://willbl.com/

Dr. Stanley D. Gehrt, a renowned wildlife ecologist, has dedicated over two decades to studying urban coyotes, particularly through the Urban Coyote Research Project based in the Chicago metropolitan area. His book, Coyotes Among Us, co-authored with Kerry Luft, provides an in-depth look into how these adaptable predators have seamlessly integrated into urban environments across North America.

Key Insights from Coyotes Among Us:

Adaptability in Urban Landscapes: Gehrt’s research reveals that coyotes have not only survived but thrived in urban settings, utilizing green spaces such as cemeteries, golf courses, and airport grounds. These areas offer minimal human disturbance and abundant resources, making them ideal habitats for coyotes.

Human-Wildlife Coexistence: The book emphasizes the importance of understanding and coexisting with urban coyotes. Gehrt dispels common myths and highlights the ecological benefits coyotes bring, such as controlling rodent populations.

Behavioral Observations: Through detailed observations, Gehrt showcases the complex social structures and behaviors of coyotes, challenging the negative perceptions often associated with them.

Dr. Gehrt’s Contributions Beyond the Book:

Educational Outreach: Gehrt actively shares his findings through public talks and presentations, aiming to educate communities about urban coyotes and promote harmonious coexistence.

Research Leadership: As the Principal Investigator of the Urban Coyote Research Project, Gehrt continues to lead studies that deepen our understanding of how coyotes adapt to urban environments.

For those interested in delving deeper into Dr. Gehrt’s work and insights, the following presentation offers a comprehensive overview:

Two young coyotes rested quietly on a sunlit fairway at Ottawa Park Golf Course, unfazed as golfers passed nearby. (Photo by Tom Names)

Coyotes Are Still Here—But For How Long?


There’s a conservation saying that should make all of us think:

“The time to protect a species is while it’s still common.”


Coyotes are a native species in Canada. They’ve lived on this land long before cities, highways, or borders. They are intelligent, adaptable, social animals. And yet—they are offered no real legal protection across much of the country.


In most provinces, coyotes can be hunted year-round, often with no limit. They are trapped, poisoned, and even targeted in wildlife killing contests—competitions that reward people for killing the most or biggest coyotes. These are legal. Not regulated. Not questioned.


The Canadian government treats coyotes as if their abundance is a reason to ignore them. But population numbers are not an excuse for cruelty.


Persecution doesn’t just hurt coyotes—it disrupts ecosystems, fragments social bonds within packs, and actually increases conflict.


Science shows that when coyotes are aggressively hunted, they respond by having larger litters and spreading into new areas.
In other words: killing more coyotes doesn’t solve anything—it makes things worse.


We should be proud to share this land with native animals. Instead, we’re allowing outdated fears and unscientific policies to guide how we treat them.


Coyotes don’t need to be endangered to deserve protection.
They just need to be seen.
And it’s time we start seeing them differently.