EDITORIAL

While recently driving through a wilderness area in Utah, I witnessed a seemingly majestic animal confidently cross a mountain plateau and disappear into the great beyond. The coyote is a remarkably successful and adaptable canine species. In fact, the native North American species is so successful and widespread that it has a formal conservation status of “least concern.”

The coyote is marginally smaller than its cousin, the gray wolf, and averages between 25 and 40 pounds, with females being slightly smaller than males. Their range extends across North America, and they migrate deeper into Central America each year. The primarily carnivorous coyote has a varied diet of meat, including rodents, small animals, and the carcasses of larger animals. However, it also eats fruit, berries, grass, and other plant materials when necessary. In coastal areas, the coyote is known to eat marine life. Its versatile diet allows the coyote not only to survive, but to flourish in a wide variety of ecological settings.

The Coyote is a master of overcoming adversity. Ranchers once widely hunted coyotes because of the threat to their herds. Coyotes are killed as prey by bears, cougars, alligators, and large eagles. However, as the ranges of larger mammals like wolves and bears have diminished, the highly successful coyote has colonized the larger animals’ former territories. Surprisingly, the coyote is known to kill and eat rattlesnakes. More recently, a greater appreciation for the coyote’s role in controlling rodent and insect populations has grown. The pervasive success of the coyote as a species is quite admirable.

As a child, I admittedly did not have much respect or admiration for the coyote. When confronted, coyotes were much more likely to run than to stand their ground and fight. I vividly remember seeing coyote carcasses proudly displayed on the barbed wire fences of protective ranchers. They had neither the strength of a lion nor the size of an elephant.

It was only as an adult when I pondered as to why the coyote was selected as the mascot for Weatherford College that I began to truly appreciate the animal. Like the coyote species, Weatherford College, as an institution, faced and overcame many obstacles. Smaller and financially weaker than more established colleges, Weatherford College nearly failed multiple times during her institutional history. Yet through wise strategic moves, WC not only survived, but like the coyote, she thrived.

Many of the students of Weatherford College, myself included, came from modest backgrounds. WC served as a cultural habitat where students from all backgrounds could work hard and flourish. You don’t have to be a lion to succeed at Weatherford College. The coyote succeeds where stronger, larger species fail. The coyote is adaptable, cunning, and wise. The coyote can hunt in a pack or succeed on its own. The coyote is a survivor!

As I recently watched the tenacious coyote proudly cross the beautiful mountain plateau in Utah, I felt genuine respect and admiration for their incredible success as a species. I then peacefully drove on through the wilderness as I tuned to our appropriately named new WC radio station app, “The Coyote.”