Coyote Yipps

UPDATE: This movie can now be streamed on waterbear: https://www.waterbear.com/watch/dont-feed-the-coyotes.

If you live in San Francisco and missed this film the first time around, it will be showing again on March 26th, at the Bernal Branch Library in San Francisco, along with a Q&A afterwards with me and the filmmaker, Nick Stone-Schearer. You’ll need to reserve a space for yourself at Eventbrite. This is sponsored by the Bernal Heights Outdoor Cinema. Below is the same introduction they have on their site: https://bhoutdoorcine.org/f2f-3-26-24/

In the early 1900s, California paid a $5 bounty for dead coyotes as well as other predators. This practice and rapidly growing urban areas led to coyotes disappearing across the state. Over the next century, public sentiment towards wildlife slowly shifted. By the early 2000s, coyotes began appearing in the state including returning to San Francisco’s green spaces like Golden Gate Park, Bernal Hill and other parks and forests.

DON’T FEED THE COYOTES observes several years in the life of a three year-old coyote as she vies with a territorial challenger in the quest to form a family. Studied by two naturalists with different approaches and perspectives, we follow the coyotes as they journey in the city’s parks including Bernal Hill.

Join Nick Stone Schearer, director, and Janet Kessler, featured naturalist for a post-screening Q&A

Filmmaker, Nick Stone Schearer, began his filmmaking career in 2010 documenting the impacts of the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. After graduating from the University of Wisconsin, he spent several years working and learning in New York before moving to the Bay Area in 2015, where he has focused on stories about the natural systems around us and the spectrum of relationships we have with them. Nick continues to collaborate with other filmmakers, organizations, and brands including Bloomberg, Netflix and the Biden/Harris campaign. He is currently working on a project about California newts.

Janet Kessler, known throughout San Francisco as “the Coyote Lady,” is a self-taught naturalist who is into her 16th year of daily field-research: documenting urban coyote behavior and family life — including their behavior with people and pets. Through her blog, coyoteyipps.com. Janet shares her observations, photos and guidelines for easy coexistence. Janet has a degree in Cultural Anthropology and a Masters in Art History from the University of Texas at Austin. She was born in South America and spent her childhood there. She has worked at Vorpal Gallery, at U.S.News & World Report, and at several law offices.