It’s been awhile since I’ve rumbled a bit about Wyoming, and it’s now time.
Mainly because whilst in Denver I stopped by the Tattered Cover, looked through the bargain books, and for $6 picked up a copy of The Daily Coyote: A Story of Love, Survival, and Trust in the Wilds of Wyoming.
The book is written by Shreve Stockton, who ended up in Wyoming by, like many, accident. What catches one’s eye is the fact that she adopted a Coyote—not a typical animal for domestic companionship. This, naturally, piqued my interest, and when I realized that she lived in the vicinity of Ten Sleep, I was sold.
Back when I was a student at UW, I had a friend who was from Ten Sleep – which made him pretty unusual. Just the Ten Sleep part—he was typical in that lots of UW students come from small towns—places that in Germany wouldn’t even be dignified with the term “dorf”, but in Wyoming are home to full-fledged public schools.
Shreve moved to Ten Sleep (population 304) from San Francisco, originally from New York City, and experienced the typical culture shock—even as she was in love with the idea and experience that is Wyoming.
I found the book enchanting and started reading it while waiting for my flight in Denver and completed the book rather rapidly, finishing it probably over Illinois. There’s something engaging reading about her adoption of what is commonly thought to be an undomesticatable animal like a Coyote – and the struggles that the animal has with his human companion; plus how the human companion works to dominate an animal with wild instincts.
It’s not something I would choose to do, but reading about is a worthwhile alternative.
Her blog is still online: The Daily Coyote; plus Honey Rock Dawn.
I think wild things should be left wild.
It’s a pretty complicated thing – ultimately she had a choice: either she raise the coyote or the coyote would be euthanized — its parents and siblings had already been killed and at 10 days old it would not have survived on its own.
I always like it when I find surprisingly good books in the bargain bin.