The McGraw Report | Max McGraw Wildlife Foundation
CBS highlighted Dr. Stanley Gehrt, head of McGraw’s wildlife research department, and his work with coyotes on the May 24 nationwide broadcast of “Sunday Morning.” Dr. Gehrt, who also is a professor of wildlife ecology at The Ohio State University, has led the Urban Coyote Research Project under McGraw’s aegis for more than 25 years.
“Back in the late 1990s, the concept of a coyote living in an urban setting was basically unheard of,” Dr. Gehrt told the interviewer. “Yet they started appearing in suburban sites around Chicago, and people became concerned or scared.”
Dr. Gehrt’s research has won international recognition for himself and McGraw. It has been described in innumerable research papers, mainstream news outlets, and has helped to launch the careers of many scientists who began their graduate work at McGraw.
In addition, Dr. Gehrt and McGraw Executive Vice President Kerry Luft teamed up to write the 2024 book “Coyotes Among Us,” a distillation of his research for the general public.
“Stan is known as the world’s leading coyote expert for good reason,” Luft said. “Less well known is the fact that he has been a pioneer in technology, including the use of GPS technology to better track coyotes and stable isotope analysis to help understand their diets.
“His research is a source of great pride to the Foundation, and he has become a great friend to many people here at McGraw, including me.”
For the general public, Dr. Gehrt’s message is that coyotes should not automatically be considered dangerous.
“If you’re walking your dog and encounter a coyote, don’t run away,” he told CBS. “If you have a small dog, pick it up and walk away. If you have a large dog, stand still and shout at it, and it should leave.”
With coyotes becoming a common part of the urban landscape, Dr. Gehrt added, “A certain amount of tolerance is necessary.”
As he and Luft wrote in their book, the coyote is an enormously adaptive creature that has survived and thrived even as other predators are wiped out. And they are endlessly fascinating – how else could Dr. Gehrt study them for the better part of three decades and still have plenty of questions worth investigating?
Visit the Urban Coyote Research Project website here:
Copies of Dr. Gehrt’s book “Coyotes Among Us” are available for purchase at Pond Cottage and through numerous online retailers.
