'Don't Scapegoat Wildlife'
From Animal Defenders of Westchester (ADOW)
We advocate on all animal protection and exploitation issues, including
experimentation, factory farming, rodeos, breeders and traveling animal acts.
'Don't Scapegoat Wildlife'
Letter as published on
Lohud.com
August 28, 2017
Unfortunately, some people are fearful of coyotes due to the spread of
misinformation and bias. People often hate what is unfamiliar, what they
don't know. Even though coyotes and other wildlife have been here for years
— before we got here — many have been displaced by urban sprawl and habitat
destruction.
You are more likely to be bitten by a dog than a coyote. Coyotes also love
their babies and are an important part of a healthy ecosystem. What has
happened to us that we demand wildlife be killed just because we see them,
where did that concept come from? It's an amazing quirk of human nature: We
move into an area and demand that wildlife — which was here before us — get
out.
It's easy to stir up hatred and fear — it's going on all over, just open any
newspaper and look at current events. All kinds of wildlife are being
scapegoated as objects of hatred — but scapegoating of any group, especially
those who cannot defend themselves, is unacceptable in an intelligent,
compassionate society.
Please join us at the Yonkers Will Library from 7-9 p.m. on Aug. 31 as we
discuss successful methods of living peacefully with coyotes and other
wildlife, similar to the remarkable program instituted by New York City,
known as WildlifeNYC. It reflects the fact that wildlife has a right to be
here, teaching New Yorkers about living and co-existing with "urban fauna,"
our natural neighbors.
Kiley Blackman
Tuckahoe
The writer is founder of Animal Defenders of Westchester.
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