Eric Cox and Grant Coyour Memorial Page

Eric Cox Eric Wynn Cox, a graduate student at the University of Idaho, and Grant Coyour , a pilot with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, died in an airplane crash on June 11, 1999. Both men were on a routine monitoring flight to count moose calves when their plane crashed in a remote bog in northwestern Minnesota. Eric and Grant were killed on impact. This flight was part of Eric's Ph.D. research on the effects of parasitism and nutrition in a moose population decline. Grant Coyour

Eric began working on the moose study in May of 1996. This study was initiated when the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recognized that the northwestern Minnesota moose population had been reduced to perilously low levels. It was important to understand the causes of the decline to see if there was any hope of restoring the population to former levels. At the time the cause of this decline remained largely unknown but speculations included predation by wolves and bears, inadequate food supply, hunting, parasitism, and habitat loss. Dr. Todd Fuller and Dr. Dennis Murray of the University of Massachusetts were selected to find a student to work on this. Dennis Murray said he knew immediately that Eric was the right person for the graduate position. "I felt that the independence, maturity, perseverance, and enthusiasm that Eric had demonstrated during the course of his Masters work would serve him well on the moose project."

Grant and Eric (photo: Jim Reil)

Since that time until his death Eric spent 7,300 hours in the field, often under brutal conditions fighting deep snows and -40 temperatures or mucky bogs and hordes of mosquitos! His work involved the intensive monitoring of movements, survival, and pregnancy of moose cows and calves in an area covering 700,000 acres. Over the last 3 years Eric monitored over 150 free-ranging animals and necropsied more than 70 carcasses that were retrieved post-mortem. Murray states, "This is a very large sample by most standards and is testament to Eric's indefatigable work ethic and enthusiasm." He found that the majority of dying moose were in a severely malnourished state, and often parasitized by liver flukes, meningeal worms, winter ticks, and various infectious diseases. Eric Cox Eric's necropsy work revealed that parasitism was incurring serious pathology to infected moose, and thus probably contributing to the population decline. Eric's work on moose pregnancy indicated that rates of calf production in the study population were chronically low. Thus, the picture that emerges from Eric's data is one of a moose population that is faced with serious limits that are probably related to parasitism, disease, or malnutrition.

Eric grew up in northern Michigan, where from an early age he showed a keen interest and enthusiasm for the outdoors and its wildlife inhabitants. Throughout his youth he participated actively in hunting, fishing, and hiking excursions with his Eric on the right with brother Jeff and sister Anne. family and friends. Eric showed an early interest in wildlife performing a number of small studies of animals around his home beginning in the 8th grade. This included a rudimentary mark-recapture study of salamanders found near his backyard. Later Eric was to relate, in a typically self-effacing manner, how he did not consider this study worthy of mention or publication because of the small sample size and lack of statistical rigor.

Upon completing high school, Eric earned a Woodbury Ransom Memorial Scholarship and attended Warren Wilson College in North Carolina. During his undergraduate years, Eric also saw brief stints at Washington State University and the University of North Carolina, and spent one fall working on a sage grouse habitat use study in Washington. It was during this experience he first gained exposure to the joys and rigors of field research and wildlife biology. For his undergraduate thesis Eric worked on the effects of polluted water on a riverine benthic invertebrate community, of which he published two papers as sole author. In 1992, he graduated with joint degrees in Environmental Studies (Honors) and Mathematics (Honors) from Warren Wilson College.

Eric went to the University of Wisconsin in 1993 as a graduate student in the Department of Wildlife Ecology. He planned to work on coyote scavenging behavior and habitat use with Dr. Bob Garrott. Soon after his arrival, transmitters were deployed on coyotes and data collection was initiated, but suddenly support for the project fell through. Although this would have served as a most devastating blow to the majority of graduate students, true to form, Eric refused to be angry or to wallow in self-pity. Rather, he quickly designed and implemented a brand new study comparing vulnerability to predation in snowshoe hares and cottontail rabbits.

"Eric loved what he did. I can honestly say as his friend and advisor that I have never encountered anyone in this field who had such zeal to go the extra mile in their quest for data. Eric was a true scientist, consumed by often neglected aspects of wildlife biology such as experimental design, statistical power, and mathematical modeling. These interests clearly are reflected in both the quantity and quality of data that Eric was able to collect. Eric also loved to fly and was about 15 hours away from obtaining his own flying licence. He was well on his way to becoming an outstanding scientist, and friends and wildlife professionals should try to remember him for his curiosity, enthusiasm, scientific rigor, and free spirit. Personally, I will miss my friend and colleague, truly one of our shining stars that simply burned out too soon." - Dennis L. Murray, Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources, University of Idaho, Moscow, ID 83844.

Eric and Kizzy bird hunting in the fall. Eric and his dog, Kizzy, lived at Agassiz National Wildlife Refuge and Red Lake Wildlife Management Area. He loved winter and all aspects of the outdoors. This was to be his last official flight. He was looking forward to two months off to spend time with his family before beginning to write his thesis. We will miss seeing him on the backroads or late at night in the office. His contributions to understanding moose in this part of the world will never be forgotten.

Moose Home Page	Moose History	Study Area Map	Study Area	Research Design
Research Summary	Adopt-A-Moose Program	Research Cooperators	Sponsors	Media Index

Eric Wynn Cox, a graduate student at the University of Idaho, and Grant Coyour , a pilot with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, died in an airplane crash on June 11, 1999. Both men were on a routine monitoring flight to count moose calves when their plane crashed in a remote bog in northwestern Minnesota. Eric and Grant were killed on impact. This flight was part of Eric's Ph.D. research on the effects of parasitism and nutrition in a moose population decline. Eric began working on the moose study in May of 1996. This study was initiated when the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recognized that the northwestern Minnesota moose population had been reduced to perilously low levels. It was important to understand the causes of the decline to see if there was any hope of restoring the population to former levels. At the time the cause of this decline remained largely unknown but speculations included predation by wolves and bears, inadequate food supply, hunting, parasitism, and habitat loss. Dr. Todd Fuller and Dr. Dennis Murray of the University of Massachusetts were selected to find a student to work on this. Dennis Murray said he knew immediately that Eric was the right person for the graduate position. "I felt that the independence, maturity, perseverance, and enthusiasm that Eric had demonstrated during the course of his Masters work would serve him well on the moose project." Since that time until his death Eric spent 7,300 hours in the field, often under brutal conditions fighting deep snows and -40 temperatures or mucky bogs and hordes of mosquitos! His work involved the intensive monitoring of movements, survival, and pregnancy of moose cows and calves in an area covering 700,000 acres. Over the last 3 years Eric monitored over 150 free-ranging animals and necropsied more than 70 carcasses that were retrieved post-mortem. Murray states, "This is a very large sample by most standards and is testament to Eric's indefatigable work ethic and enthusiasm." He found that the majority of dying moose were in a severely malnourished state, and often parasitized by liver flukes, meningeal worms, winter ticks, and various infectious diseases. Eric's necropsy work revealed that parasitism was incurring serious pathology to infected moose, and thus probably contributing to the population decline. Eric's work on moose pregnancy indicated that rates of calf production in the study population were chronically low. Thus, the picture that emerges from Eric's data is one of a moose population that is faced with serious limits that are probably related to parasitism, disease, or malnutrition. Eric grew up in northern Michigan, where from an early age he showed a keen interest and enthusiasm for the outdoors and its wildlife inhabitants. Throughout his youth he participated actively in hunting, fishing, and hiking excursions with his family and friends. Eric showed an early interest in wildlife performing a number of small studies of animals around his home beginning in the 8th grade. This included a rudimentary mark-recapture study of salamanders found near his backyard. Later Eric was to relate, in a typically self-effacing manner, how he did not consider this study worthy of mention or publication because of the small sample size and lack of statistical rigor. Upon completing high school, Eric earned a Woodbury Ransom Memorial Scholarship and attended Warren Wilson College in North Carolina. During his undergraduate years, Eric also saw brief stints at Washington State University and the University of North Carolina, and spent one fall working on a sage grouse habitat use study in Washington. It was during this experience he first gained exposure to the joys and rigors of field research and wildlife biology. For his undergraduate thesis Eric worked on the effects of polluted water on a riverine benthic invertebrate community, of which he published two papers as sole author. In 1992, he graduated with joint degrees in Environmental Studies (Honors) and Mathematics (Honors) from Warren Wilson College. Eric went to the University of Wisconsin in 1993 as a graduate student in the Department of Wildlife Ecology. He planned to work on coyote scavenging behavior and habitat use with Dr. Bob Garrott. Soon after his arrival, transmitters were deployed on coyotes and data collection was initiated, but suddenly support for the project fell through. Although this would have served as a most devastating blow to the majority of graduate students, true to form, Eric refused to be angry or to wallow in self-pity. Rather, he quickly designed and implemented a brand new study comparing vulnerability to predation in snowshoe hares and cottontail rabbits. "Eric loved what he did. I can honestly say as his friend and advisor that I have never encountered anyone in this field who had such zeal to go the extra mile in their quest for data. Eric was a true scientist, consumed by often neglected aspects of wildlife biology such as experimental design, statistical power, and mathematical modeling. These interests clearly are reflected in both the quantity and quality of data that Eric was able to collect. Eric also loved to fly and was about 15 hours away from obtaining his own flying licence. He was well on his way to becoming an outstanding scientist, and friends and wildlife professionals should try to remember him for his curiosity, enthusiasm, scientific rigor, and free spirit. Personally, I will miss my friend and colleague, truly one of our shining stars that simply burned out too soon." - Dennis L. Murray, Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources, University of Idaho, Moscow, ID 83844. Eric and his dog, Kizzy, lived at Agassiz National Wildlife Refuge and Red Lake Wildlife Management Area. He loved winter and all aspects of the outdoors. This was to be his last official flight. He was looking forward to two months off to spend time with his family before beginning to write his thesis. We will miss seeing him on the backroads or late at night in the office. His contributions to understanding moose in this part of the world will never be forgotten.
Eric and Mildred Clark. She and her husband started the Refuge Reporter, a newsletter devoted to National Wildlife Refuge issues and activities. Mildred died over a year ago to cancer, her husband Jim Clark took the photo. He is carrying on their work. They both enjoyed their time with Eric.