Eastern Coyote/Coywolf Research

It is with great excitement that Eastern Coyote/Coywolf Research founder Jonathan (Jon) Way, Ph.D., releases his new book (click on link to go to the new book) Coywolf: Eastern Coyote Genetics, Ecology, Management, and Politics. He wrote this as an e-book because, as a biologist who has made studying eastern coyotes/coywolves his life’s work, Jon wanted to maximize the book’s exposure as much as possible. He is offering it for free to anyone in the world who wants to read it. This is the culmination of years of work and delves deeply into eastern coyote ecology, behavior, and genetics. This project was the result of a labor of love that turned into a real-life nightmare in recent years. Thus, it has evolved to include management and politics because it’s important to understand the regressive policies that dominate predator management and the negative consequences many biologists face when they try to accurately portray predators in the context of wildlife management.

The book is nearly 280 pages long and includes 290 fully color pictures. It is Jon’s “tell all” book from the last 20 years. It is a must-read for anyone interested in predators, coyotes and wolves, hybridization, politics, and how to reform carnivore management. All of that and more is discussed in this book.

Citation: Way, J.G. 2021. E-book. Coywolf: Eastern Coyote Genetics, Ecology, Management, and Politics. Eastern Coyote/Coywolf Research, Barnstable, MA. 277 pages. Open Access URL: http://www.easterncoyoteresearch.com/CoywolfBook/.

There are 3 exciting developments within this organization:

1) In an effort to increase access, Eastern Coyote/Coywolf Research has made the following e-books Open Access which ensures that anyone in the world can read these books for free:

The Trip of a Lifetime and Northeastern U.S. National Parks

All that is asked, as is explained in both of the books, is that you donate to Eastern Coyote/Coywolf Research if you enjoyed the read(s). That will help facilitate the production of more books like this one. Enjoy!

2) In additionally exciting news, the founder of Eastern Coyote/Coywolf Research, Jonathan (Jon) Way, is finishing another major e-book, Coywolf, which will soon be available on this website. That book will be nearly 300 pages, will include hundreds of pictures, and will discuss eastern coyote ecology, genetics, management, and politics. It details at length how this animal came about as a hybrid creature and its ecology and behavior in the wild. The book is the culmination of years of work. It has evolved to include politics because it’s important to understand the regressive policies that dominate predator management and the negative consequences many biologists face when they try to accurately portray predators in the context of wildlife management.

3) Lastly, in a 3^rd major initiative after the publication of the 2 e-books as Open Access, and the finishing of Coywolf – a major treatise on the eastern coyote, Jon plans on soon writing another e-book, this one based on his trip to Yellowstone National Park over the recent holiday season. It is going to be a picture-oriented e-book called Christmas in Yellowstone! More soon on both of these endeavors.

This is a word of caution: The original publisher of my 2007 book “Suburban Howls” is Dog Ear Publishing. It is important to note that they are a bunch of thieves (please see detailed article here). They sell author’s books and don’t pay them their profits. I haven’t been paid for sales for over 2 years. They owe me at least $500 and the value is probably higher than that. I am part of an email chain of over 30 people where the same thing has happened. The real number of people scammed by Dog Ear Publishing is probably much higher.

I realize that most people visiting this site buy directly from me on my website (here) but if you are going to Amazon please buy the book thru Ingram Spark (ISBN# 9781087848501), which has a revised 2014 version on the cover. Please DO NOT buy the Dog Ear Publishing version as it is currently still listed up there even though I cancelled my contract with them months ago. It is sad that in this day and age people can get away with stealing right in front of you even when one contacts the Attorney General and Better Business Bureau which I and all those other authors have already done.

For your best, bet, please visit my store page where all of my books and some of my pictures are available for sale. Thanks for your interest and loyalty.

December 21, 2017. Coyote Control Based on Scientific House of Cards: Complaint Seeks to End Federal Reliance on Flawed 42-Year-Old Study. Today I became co-author with a major national group, PEER, to challenge a study that will no doubt start to legally reform carnivore management nationwide. We were able to get a lot of major people/scientists to sign on to this including Jane Goodall! It is the beginning of a new era of challenging special interest dominated flawed wildlife (specifically carnivore) management and this document will be used to challenge carnivore hunting and control programs in the very near future. This is a very exciting development! Below, is the scientific citation for this document:

Carlesco, A., J.G. Way, and L. Kane. 2017. Complaint about information quality: Use of the Connolly and Longhurst (1975) paper in justifying coyote control. URL: https://www.peer.org/assets/docs/usda/12_20_17_PEER_DQA_Complaint.pdf. 23 pages.

November 15, 2017. New Paper “Once I Found Out” shows the general public’s distaste for carnivore hunting. This is an exciting new paper that I co-authored with Dr. Jennifer Jackman in the peer-reviewed journal Human Dimensions of Wildlife showing that voters on Cape Cod, MA overwhelming opposed hunting practices on coyotes. I am sure that future research will verify this in most of the U.S. Citation for paper is:

Jackman, J. L. and J. G. Way. 2017. Once I found out: Awareness of and attitudes toward coyote hunting policies in Massachusetts. Human Dimensions of Wildlife, DOI: 10.1080/10871209.2017.1397824.

Will state wildlife agencies acknowledge this and guide future management to how the public wishes, or will they remain special interest focused on satisfying the small minority of people that hunt carnivores?

May 8, 2017. A special thanks to Louise Kane, Elizabeth G Brooke, John Maguranis, and Predator Defense: https://www.facebook.com/PredDefense/ for creating this important petition to ban carnivore hunting at Cape Cod National Seashore. It is due time that the park service treats this area like the national park that it is and for more people in the East to have a chance to experience a national park setting without having to travel out west. It is hoped that 1000s of signatures are gathered and that you might not only sign on but also forward this petition to your networks and help us recruit many other signers to force Seashore staff to recognize this important area and give it the proper protections it deserves. This is a great situation where someone can feel empowered in making a difference by singing on to a document that has a chance of achieving its intended goals.

9/15/16

Eastern Coyote/Coywolf Research founder, Dr. Jonathan Way, publishes a testimonial called “Blackballed”, which documents – in detail – the research obstruction that he has experienced trying to study eastern coyotes/coywolves in Massachusetts. Jon is a father, volunteer coach for youth basketball and football, author of two books and over 40 professional publications, and currently lives and works on Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Yet, the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries – the same agency that authorizes an unlimited six month hunting season for anyone who wants to kill them – has repeatedly obstructed and denied his research requests.

This testimonial is timely as government corruption related to pandering to special interests is now capturing headlines more than ever. State wildlife agencies cater almost exclusively to narrow user groups despite changing demographics of public trust resources, and when Jon’s work as an independent scientist challenged the status quo policy positions within MA Wildlife his career was essentially terminated. The attached testimonial is Jon’s “coming out”. It’s intended to give readers a specific, informed first-hand account of the power that state agencies wield on obstructing productive field work and discriminating against freedom of speech when scientists challenge their authority and policies.

For more and to read the testimonial, please visit:

http://EasternCoyoteResearch.com/ResearchObstructionTestimonial

March 16, 2016. Updated (bottom) May 12: my co-authored paper on changing the species name of ‘eastern coyote’ to coywolf (common name), Canis oriens (scientific name), was accepted and published:

Way, J.G. and Lynn, W.S. 2016. Northeastern coyote/coywolf taxonomy and admixture: A meta-analysis. Canid Biology & Conservation 19(1): 1-7. URL: http://canids.org/CBC/19/Northeastern_coyote_taxonomy.pdf. This paper summarizes the literature and suggests that not only should ‘coyotes’ in the Northeast be called coywolves, but that they warrant new species status, Canis oriens – meaning eastern canid!

Update May 12: Also check out my article published in the academic journal The Conversation on the same topic: https://theconversation.com/why-the-eastern-coyote-should-be-a-separate-species-the-coywolf-59214.