More Coyotes

The confluence of certain events can sometimes be an interesting thing.  Yesterday I wrote about reading a Native American coyote tale to my 4th graders.  Today, on the way to school, I passed three dead coyotes.  Two had already been strung up on a fence by a hind leg and one was propped up by a fence post waiting, I assume, to be hoisted.  Two men standing by their trucks in the drive and having a conversation glanced at me as I passed.  I can only imagine that one or the other or both were the coyote killers.   

Try as I might, I can't understand this.  While I do get that coyotes can cause problems with smaller livestock and pets, and see why they might be shot, I don't understand the thinking that strings them up for every passing motorist to see.  Why?  I know that the men in the drive would probably laugh at me for saying this, but it seems highly disrespectful to the coyotes.  And to all the people who must witness this.  What's the point?  Is this a way of counting coup?  Or are the hanging remains of their brethren supposed to warn other coyotes to keep away?  Really??? 

This afternoon, before reading the next coyote tale to the class, I told them about the dead coyotes hanging from the fence.  Perhaps I shouldn't have, but I wanted them to be aware of how our belief systems affect everything we do.  If you believe that a coyote has no worth on any level, nothing you do to it, dead or alive, can be considered wrong or immoral.  I told the children that it was hard to explain, but that I felt that what these men had done was disrespectful to the coyotes.  One boy raised his hand and when I called on him he said, "All this talking about the dead coyotes is creeping me out.  Could you just read the next story?"  I realized that perhaps this wasn't an experience I should have shared.  I have no idea how this affected the other children.  At the time, I felt that this very much tied into what I've been trying to teach about Native Americans and their respect for all life.   And this, naturally, ties into my own feelings, which is in full agreement with the Native Americans.

So I read the next story (Fire Race: How Coyote Brought Fire) and the children enjoyed it very much.  I wish I knew what they were thinking about all the other stuff I'd talked about.