Beastly Blotter

Corrales loses its 'coyote lady'
Susan Weiss thrust Village into forefront
for wildlife management

Albuquerque lost a pioneering advocate for wildlife in November when Susan Weiss succumbed to a three-year battle with lung cancer. She was 75. Long known as “the coyote lady” in Corrales, where she lived for three and a half decades, Weiss was largely responsible for transforming attitudes in the Village as it evolved rapidly from rural to suburban.
         Galvanized by perceived abuses in animal control, she mounted what became an exhaustive campaign in 2001 that culminated in passage of the Corrales Coyote Management Plan, a model of humane wildlife management in New Mexico.
          In 2002 she received a Milagro Award from Animal Protection of New Mexico for animal advocacy. Even a decade later, however—long after the Village had institutionalized a coyote management policy focused on preventing predation, rather than on extermination—Weiss saw the constant threat of a return to practices rooted in a frontier mentality.
          Petite and unassuming, she was well known around Corrales not only for her frequent appearances at Village Council meetings and regular letters to the editors of the Corrales Comment and Albuquerque Journal, but also for her long walks on the mesa and in the bosque. She studied coyote movements and kept close tabs on family groups and dens.
          Marshalling scientific data, testimony from national experts, and volunteers enlisted through grassroots organizing, Weiss made a disarming adversary for those who defended such longstanding traditions as hunting coyotes with hounds, or shooting them on sight.
          Over the years she built up a cadre of volunteers who would help her “haze,” or train coyotes to avoid humans. Through her efforts, Corrales became known for its science-based approach to coyote management, after years of gassing or drowning pups in their dens.
         “Mother’s interest was both—taking care of animals, and the scientific approach,” said her daughter, Deborah Weiss. At one point Susan undertook a study of coyote scat, collecting and analyzing samples, much to the puzzlement of Corrales old-timers.
          Born in New Jersey, Susan Feldman Weiss had a lifelong love of animals that began with the family cats. In college she majored in biology and English, interests she maintained all her life. After marrying Stephen Weiss, she helped support him through dental school at the University of Pennsylvania by working as an assistant at an electron microscopy lab. She later worked as a technical editor.
          The couple moved constantly in the 1960s and ’70s, when he served as a dental officer in the Indian Health Service. With son Andrew and daughter Deborah, the Weisses lived on Indian reservations throughout the West before settling in Corrales in 1976.
          Their family life centered around outdoor recreation and observing nature, according to Stephen and Deborah. Susan “was always rescuing birds,” her daughter said. “She was always the ‘bird lady’ everywhere we lived, and we had an assortment of wild birds at home that could not be rehabilitated,” including a pigeon and a grosbeak. “She wouldn’t tolerate the killing of any insect,” her daughter added. “She loved little creatures.”      

Upon learning of abuses in coyote treatment, and getting no response from the Corrales council or mayor, Weiss mounted a campaign in 2001 that grew to include petitions, letters to the editor, taking ads in local publications, and asking real estate agents to educate newcomers about coyotes. Her efforts led not only to the Corrales Coyote Management Plan, but also to the nonprofit Coexist with Coyotes, and the “Coyotes live in Corrales” signs at entrances to the Village (since removed). She was for years a certified wildlife rehabilitator with the nonprofit group Fur and Feathers.
          Unfailingly polite and gracious, Weiss achieved her ends through a dogged tenacity rather than aggression. “When she had a commitment, she would be at it day and night,” Stephen said. “She wanted to move people’s attitudes, and I think in that she was successful.”
          Susan Weiss is also survived by son Andrew Weiss, brother Peter Feldman, and granddaughters Jordan Weiss and Louise Whiting. A memorial fund has been established to continue her work promoting coexistence with coyotes. Donations can be made online at ProjectCoyote.org—please earmark in comments for the Susan Weiss Coyote Coexistence Memorial Fund.