2022 NEWSMAKERS: The wily coyotes of Riverside Park South

Ottawasun.com
Jan. 3, 2023

Brazen. Audacious. Opportunistic. That’s how people described the coyotes of Riverside Park South.

In August, a group of neighbours gathered around a firepit on Marcel Street were shocked when Chico, a 10-pound shih tzu-chihuahua mix who had been napping on his master’s lap, jumped up and ran into some nearby bushes. Chico was last seen in the jaws of a coyote running down the street.

At least one cat met the same fate. One resident snapped a photo of a coyote nonchalantly trotting across a lawn in broad daylight. École élémentaire catholique George-Étienne-Cartier, a school in the neighbourhood, contacted the Ottawa Police Service one morning in early September after a parent warned that a coyote had been seen roaming the school grounds.

In early October, the city asked residents to avoid McCarthy Woods and the hydro corridor along its northern border during a “wildlife management operation.” About a month later, the city reported that three coyotes had been live-captured and humanely euthanized for public safety reasons.

The coyote sightings have not stopped. The City of Ottawa is expected to consider a “proactive coyote management strategy”  in the new year after River Ward Coun. Riley Brockington, whose ward includes Riverside Park South, asked city staff to look into a plan.

There has been an increase in reports of coyote-human interactions this year, said Brockington. “Particularly after the May derecho is when everything flared up.”

Wildlife advocates are arguing that the city needs to move forward with a progressive coyote strategy, similar to those in other Ontario cities including Niagara Falls and Toronto. People and coyotes need to learn to coexist. Essentially, we need to get along, but no one’s dog needs to be sacrificed.

The city of Vaughan, just north of Toronto, recognizes that solutions for coyote conflicts must address both problematic coyote behaviour, such as snatching pets, and also human behaviours, such as leaving pets outside unattended or off leash.

Coyote Watch Canada, a wildlife group that advocates for co-existence, urged the City of Ottawa to stop trapping coyotes after one was found caught in a snare trap in McCarthy Woods. The city, for its part, said workers had found and removed unauthorized traps set by “unknown parties,” and reminded residents not to take matters into their own hands.

A letter signed by nine community groups urged Ottawa’s new mayor, Mark Sutcliffe, to implement a progressive strategy.

“We need to coexist with wildlife rather than continue the vicious cycle of trapping and killing,” said the letter.

Wildlife needs to be factored into the development process, said Donna DuBreuil, president of the Ottawa-Carleton Wildlife Centre, one of the signatories of the letter. When forested areas are bulldozed, coyotes will naturally be more visible.

“We all like to have natural areas, but we have to learn to share it,” she said. “We need to put things into perspective. There are 400-plus dog bite reports every year.”

One thing is certain. Coyotes are not going anywhere. After bears, wolves and cougars were pushed out as farming and urbanization expanded in Ontario, coyotes moved in to fill the vacuum in the ecosystem. There are plenty of rodents and rabbits for coyotes to eat in cities and wooded pockets from them to den.

Part of a good municipal coyote strategy is to not wait until encounters with coyotes turn into conflicts, said Lesley Sampson, the CEO of Coyote Watch Canada.

This requires measures such as seasonal awareness campaigns so people are aware of how coyote behaviour changes over the course of the year. For example, coyotes mate for life. They have pups in the spring and the pups usually disperse in the fall to find their own territory -- although they may stay with the family longer.

Coyote Watch has produced an eLearning module about coyotes in urban landscapes that some cities, including Toronto, have posted on their websites.

A coyote strategy is successful when people are engaged and more knowledgeable about coyotes, said Sampson.

“Concerns shift from fear to understanding. We want to empower community members. When people learn about the biology and behaviour of animals, they are willing to be helpful.”

Trapping and euthanizing coyotes doesn’t reduce the overall coyote population, it just creates a vacant niche for other coyotes to move in, said Sampson. Coyote populations are determined by the supply of food and the landscape.

DuBreuil admits she herself has made the mistake of allowing her cat out overnight. When the feline disappeared, she initially believed a coyote was responsible, but she changed her theory after a fisher, a ferocious predator and a member of the weasel family, was sighted in her neighbourhood.

Coyotes are omnivores and eat a wide variety of foods, from insects and grubs to eggs and vegetables. Almost 40 per cent of a coyote’s diet consists of mice, squirrels and the occasional rabbit. Almost a quarter of their diet is fruit, said DeBreuil. Cleaning up windfall apples is one step to keeping coyotes away.

“We don’t own all of nature. We have to learn to respect it.”