Watching the distant dogs play in the water, Colin thinks, :They seem kind of small for wolves…” As they move out the picture, he thinks, “We’re in Portland – they must be someone’s dogs… very independent dogs.” He watches the water for a while after they’ve left.
Later, his roommate says, “They were probably coyotes.”
“I…didn’t know we had coyotes in New England.”
“Yeah, they’ve actually gotten to be kind of a nuisance in the suburbs.”
“Huh!”
NARRATION: Since moving back to New Hampshire, I’ve seen coyotes four times while driving. IMAGE: Headlight beams in a rural road at night, coyote walking along the shoulder.
The New Hampshire Fish and Game Department says coyotes came to the state in the 1940s – and they’re bigger than and different from their ancestors because they interbred with wolves along the way! Now they’re common in every county.
I drew half of this page this past Sunday at the 8 Days of Weeks festival in Lancaster, NH and finished it at home last night.
Learn more about Eastern Coyotes at the NH Fish & Game Department and more about their genetic relationship with wolves at the Boston Globe.
- The Water Dogs 2 -