God’s dog or devil’s demon: Maybe just grit

In 1958, Hope Ryden (1929-2017) was a flight attendant on Pan American Airway’s first jet transatlantic flight. In 1983 she flew that route again on Pan Am’s 25th year commemorative flight in celebration of the inauguration of transatlantic jet travel.

Her life and legacy are not defined, though, by being a flight attendant. Instead, she had a long and distinguished career as a naturalist extraordinaire, photographer, film producer and author of books about beaver, bobcats and wild horses among others.

God’s Dog: A Celebration of the North American Coyote, her classic book published in 1972, remains highly popular with fans of coyote literature.  

For two years, she camped in remote parts of Wyoming and Montana, including several weeks living in a van on the National Elk Refuge in Wyoming, from which she could covertly observe undisturbed coyote families conducting their affairs.

Her long-term relationship with members of a ranching family living near Powell, Wyoming who befriended her was instrumental in helping a New York City resident become an expert in coyote ecology and knowledgeable about all matters Western.

Her writing style was naturalistic in tone, full of delightful field observations, biological information and inspirational descriptions about how a remarkable animal lives its life. 

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