tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3113182078732942696.post2829339005973090859..comments2024-03-12T05:38:57.339-07:00Comments on Wolves, Wolf Facts, Cougars, Cougar Facts, Coyotes, Coyote Facts - Wolves, Cougars, Coyotes Forever: L.B is a dedicated reader of this blog and a life long naturalist.................Today, he provides us with his take on the "canid soup" that likely runs through the population of North Carolina Coyotes and remnant Eastern Wolves(The Eastern Wolf Restoration Program is under review currently by the USFW)..........While I have commented previously that the Red Wolf Restoration should continue at least until there is a large enough population that might insulate itself from Coyote admixing, many, including L.B. take the position that the most resilient canid, and one that might persist into the forever despite our human interference very well could be a hybrid "Coywolf"(so named by Massachusetts biologist Jon Way)..............Able to hunt both alone and in groups, the Coywolf(Eastern Coyote) surely has demonstrated a "wily" ability to persist under all type of persecution unlike the Gray and Eastern Wolves whose more social pack nature(once disrupted, chaos and confusion and often death of remaining packmates results) has allowed humans an easier hand at their disruption and extirpation from huge expanses of their former ranges..............Nonetheless, lets get some more of those Eastern Wolves into the southeast and beyond,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,and then let nature take its course producing the most fit canid to both fulfill deer catching ecological functions as well as putting up with us, the ultimate predator on the planetCoyotes, Wolves and Cougars foreverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05594002891926526543noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3113182078732942696.post-9115465794276593942014-09-30T18:13:59.855-07:002014-09-30T18:13:59.855-07:00L>B.............I posted your commentsL>B.............I posted your commentsCoyotes, Wolves and Cougars foreverhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05594002891926526543noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3113182078732942696.post-16374159711401956592014-09-30T10:03:33.815-07:002014-09-30T10:03:33.815-07:00It might be misconstrued that I am negative about ...It might be misconstrued that I am negative about the Red Wolf restoration program(in N. C. or elsewhere), in favor of just letting Nature take it's course with the "new" Coywolves, but nothing could be farther from the truth! I'm FOR them ALL!!! But let me clarify myself better here--a lot of "purists" get the WRONG idea that just because I say "Yahoo" to the spread of Eastern coyotes and the amazingly(wink-wink) Red-wolflike Coywolves, that somehow I consider the "pure" Red Wolf program unnecessary because I personally believe(and I do!) that Red Wolves are just a stable-ized(naturally occurring) Grey Wolf X Coyote hybrid--but just because I believe they are a NATURALLY occurring "hybrid" DOESN'T mean I don't think they have value or should not be preserved AT ALL COSTS!!! IF Red Wolves ARE hybrids, I say "SO WHAT?"--why would that make them less valuable? There is much speculation that isolated evolution alone is NOT responsible for the emergence of new species--that hybridization throughout the history of the planet has had it's impact--and this relationship between wolves, coyotes, coywolves, and red wolves is THE PERFECT chance to study this phenomenon! And just as SENSIBLE dog breeders(NOT including those that breed only to win conformation dog shows here, but those putting FUNCTION, HEALTH, and TEMPERMENT before winning ribbons at dogshows!!!) try and preserve diverse bloodlines for genetic health and working ability, the OLD, ORIGINAL BLOODLINES of the Red Wolves are INVALUABLE in the same way! And yes, by all means try and preserve some area(s) where this old bloodline can be preserved! But ALLOW it to get leached into the local "canis soup" as well, DON'T euthanize hybrid pups between coyotes and red wolves--take them away from your old bloodline preservation area, but allow them to breed BACK into the general coyote/coywolf populations in other areas! "Reswamp" the coyote gene pool with Red Wolf genes every chance you get! It happens ANYWAY, despite all the "purists'" efforts to prevent it! This will only help to encourage the proper Eastern Wolf/"New Red Wolf" that is emerging to retake it's proper niche in the eastern forests of North America. People (Wolf biologists and show dog breeders!) need to GET OVER this anal anti-"hybrid" attitude, and EMBRACE it! But DO continue to preserve that "old bloodline"/"Pure" Red Wolf howsomever you can. In no way shape or form do I consider the red wolf program a waste! SO MUCH has been learned from it, and will CONTINUE to be learned! And if this program will see the POSITIVE, NATURAL side of hybridization, then they can stop apologizing and refuting all the hybrid claims used against Red Wolves by the opponents of such, and the opponents of the Program will have to find some other thing to whine about! But I DO realize this IS NOT a popular view by virtually anyone else involved--YET. But it COULD(and SHOULD) be....L.B.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com