How Cities Became Accidental Wildlife Havens
One of the greatest modern feats for animal conservation was wildlife adapting to urban spaces, according to a new book. Now the challenge is learning to live with them.
The cover art for Peter Alagona’s new book, The Accidental Ecosystem.
Illustrator: June Glasson/Courtesy of University of California Press
When the U.S. tried to rid its cities and rural towns of coyotes starting around the 19th century, the effort backfired. While coyote control programs — involving chemical poisons, steel traps and paid bounties — did in fact kill tens of millions of the species, the population only spread further out.
“They responded by taking over the entire continent,” says Peter Alagona, an environmental historian at the University of California at Santa Barbara. Coyotes can now be found in every state except Alaska, as well as in parts of Canada and Central America, and they’ve moved from the fringes of cities to urban backyards.