Wild Dogs are back in New England!
The removal of wolves by 1900 allowed coyotes, 40 years later, to settle in. Today, thousands of eastern coyotes (an up grade on the western model), now called coy-wolves* reside in the northeast, even as the wolf tries to re-establish a stable population in New England.
With our woods re-wilding, we should know a thing or two about these predators and how to get along with them. Wild Dogs of New England is dedicated to promoting coexistence with the eastern coyote and hopefully, in time, with the wolf as well, whether we encounter them on a farm,
in the city or in our own backyards.
We must coexist with coyotes because they are here to stay!
If we understand how coyotes operate, what human behaviors may inadvertently bring them closer to us and what to do when we have
those close encounters, then coexistence becomes possible. Let’s keep
New Hampshire wild by understanding and appreciating the wildlife that
share our region.
The Wild Dogs of New England include the eastern coyote, gray and red wolf types,
and the gray and red fox. Our specific interests are the eastern coyote and the red
wolf type with which our coyote hybridized*. Understanding that a balanced
ecosystem contains predator as well as prey populations living in dynamic equilibrium, along with humans, means that how we respond to the presence of wild dog predators
can determine our safety as well as encourage healthy ecosystems.
We promote coexistence through research and education on:
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The ecology of our wild dogs. |
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Human interactions with wild dogs, including predator aversion through non-lethal methods. |
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Non-lethal predator deterrence on farms. |
Chris Schadler is a wild canid ecologist who specializes in coyotes and wolves.
Her life has ‘gone to the dogs’, literally. From a childhood spent in the woods
and fields of then-rural New Jersey training retrievers, Chris raced sled dogs in
the Great Lake States and today, trains border collies to herd her sheep. She
completed a Master Degree in Environmental Studies at Antioch Graduate School
with a study of the human, economic and biological dimensions of wolf recovery
in the Great Lake States.
You can read more about her in the “About Us” Section.
Please contact Chris for a presentation, field trip or Wolf Trek Adventure.
*The term ‘coy-wolf’ refers to the hybridization of the western coyote with a
red wolf type in Ontario and possibly elsewhere. This cross produced the larger
and more rapidly adapting coyote of New England.
