The Water Dogs 2

The Water Dogs page 2

Transcript

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 1

The Water Dogs page 1

Transcript

A man walks past some shops.
Narration: “I liked living in Portland, Maine, but after a while I missed walking in the woods.”
He walks a muddy path through tall rushes.
Narration: “A coworker recommended a river preserve just inside the city limits. As I walked in the forested section…”
SPLASH! The man looks right, then walks off the path toward a place above some water. Two distant shapes are swimming. “Ah, dogs,” he thinks. As he watches them, he thinks, “They look kinda wolfy…I don’t see an owner anywhere…”, then continues to watch them quietly.

This is the first page of the comic I drew yesterday at Weeks State Park in Lancaster, NH as part of the 8 Days of Weeks White Mountains Cultural Festival. Marek Bennett and I enticed passerby into drawing comics about the woods, the mountains, their experiences in the White Mountains National Forest, etc. – and fairness (and fun) demanded that we draw some too. I’ll post the other page later this week.