Coyotes and Wolves seemingly not wanting to be outdone, their howls drown in the lush reverberation of a deep basaltic-walled glacial valley.

Grey Wolves were all but extirpated from Washington early in the last century. They've been on a slow but steady recovery now for decades, assisted by a few relocated individuals from Canada. While still a species of high concern in the Northwest, occasions of hearing their cries are thankfully becoming more and more common.

This is not without controversy, unfortunately, as ranchers fear their livelihoods will be destroyed and hunters express concern over the competition for game animals. My general feeling is this is good, however. The mass numbers of humanity living in former wolf territory and the introduction of highly destructive and invasive farm and game animals such as cattle, pigs, chickens, bullfrogs, pheasant, etc, have had long-lasting, oft-permanent destructive consequences on our ecological systems. That wolves are able to reclaim some territory on their own despite the historical effort to eliminate them is a testimony to their tenacity as a species.

The challenges are great, though, and humanity does not make it easy for other apex predators to survive in a world we claim as our own to despoil at will. Wolves need help all around North America. To help recovery efforts and the benefits they can provide, consider supporting a conservation effort such as The International Wolf Center https://wolf.org or a sanctuary and rehabilitation center such as Wolf Haven International https://wolfhaven.org. For more information on their spread and recovery in Washington, read this informational pamphlet from the Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife https://bit.ly/2NvfgXW

image credit: "File:Grey Wolf Portrait.jpg" by Jean Beaufort is marked with CC0 1.0. To view the terms, visit http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/deed.en?ref=openverse.

Coyotes And Wolves Call-and-Response

Field Recordist / Sound designer
Shhhhh. Listening to nature.

To license sounds or for all other inquiries: info@andymartinsound.com

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Coyotes And Wolves Call-and-Response

Andy Martin, Field Recordist