I AM WILD
Photo by:Janet Kessler
In his classic book, The Voice of the Coyote, Frank Dobie writes of Coyote: “They (coyote) cannot forget freedom, and they will not lick the feeding hand that bars them in. Their self-reliance and the free exercise of their intelligence belong only to the conditions of freedom. Their spirits wither with the clank of chains.”
I believe he speaks of Coyote’s wildness like no one else I have read. What is it to be WILD …….. It is to be FREE.
And why is freedom so central to being wild? And Dobie answers why: To engage in the free exercise of their intelligence and self reliance……
Many, many humans do not know that freedom in their own lives.
And because of this, the skills to live with Coyotes are not understood: so humans feed them, hang bird feeders that draw coyote’s wild prey – rodents, leave farm animals unprotected, throw trash along roadsides…….and on and on……
THEN WE BLAME THE COYOTES FOR BEING WILD………
But instead, we need to be looking at ourselves and our human behavior.
So whenever we offer Coyotes food of any kind and in any manner…….we are taking away their FREEDOM. We are taking away their WILDNESS.
And by doing so, we cheat ourselves of the rich experience of understanding and experiencing what wildness is…in all its wonders!
