Toronto needs a specialized team to help address Liberty Village’s coyote problem, according to recommendations from an expert panel released on Tuesday.
City officials presented the findings and recommendations of the Downtown Coyote Response Expert Panel, a group that was assembled last month to tackle the growing number of interactions that have occurred between coyotes, pets and their owners in Liberty Village and Fort York.
The panel — which includes representatives from the Ministry of Natural Resources, Toronto Regional Conservation Authority, Coyote Watch Canada and universities in Guelph and Calgary — have visited hot spots in the area, monitored coyote behaviour and spoken with community stakeholders over the last three weeks.
Experts confirmed there are four coyotes they’re currently aware of in the neighbourhood.
“Their overall analysis and the work we’ve done to date aligns with the best practices amongst municipalities in North America,” said Carleton Grant, executive director of municipal licensing and standards for the city.
“We have done the right things, and we will continue to do the right things as we continue to deal with this very complex problem.”
The Coyote Safety Coalition, a grassroots organization in Liberty Village, documented more than 40 altercations involving coyotes in the Liberty Village and Fort York areas between November 2024 and February 2025. The coalition said four of those interactions resulted in the death of pets.
Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Grant said panel experts concluded the city should immediately procure a specialized team to assess the coyotes, apply adapted aversion techniques and monitor results before reporting those findings back to city staff.
Panellists also recommended removing human food sources by continuing to enforce “no dumping” and “no wildlife feeding” bylaws, as well as repairing fences, improving lighting and increasing community education.
Aversion techniques now top of mind
Additionally, experts recommend the use of further aversion techniques that utilize bodies, voices and handheld objects — rather than projectiles, bullets or dogs, which could increase the defensive reactivity of the coyotes, Grant said.
The city announced on Tuesday it would be hiring an aversion company to work with patrol officers and residents to retrain the coyotes, though that company has not yet been named.
During the press conference, Grant admitted he wasn’t aware that aversion companies had even existed until yesterday.
“Members of the expert panel have worked with these companies before, and they’ll be providing us with a list of companies to choose someone who is available immediately and has the resources and numbers to do what has been required,” he said.
Grant added he will “act very quickly to get them out into the field.”
Because coyotes can’t be moved more than one kilometre under provincial legislation, relocation isn’t a viable option, he said. Experts are not looking at trapping them either.
Euthanasia could be a ‘complex’ reality
Euthanasia of the animals still remains on the table, however.
“In the event these aversion techniques by this professional company don’t work, we’ll have to go to that next step and look at euthanasia,” Grant told reporters. “That has its own risks. This is a highly populated area.”
Asked about a timeline concerning when the city would decide to go ahead with euthanasia, Grant couldn’t provide a definitive answer.
He said the city and its coyote team will be looking at data from Liberty Village and Fort York daily. If things continue to escalate, then a decision would be made, he noted.
“To implement that strategy is going to take time,” Grant explained. “How do you ensure the safety of people? You can’t be firing weapons in a dense neighbourhood. We don’t want to close parks, we can’t close the rail corridor. It’s a complex challenge we need to look at very carefully.”
Possible impact of Ontario Place redevelopment
In recent weeks, some residents on social media have criticized patrol officers for allegedly sitting inside their vehicles, rather than stepping outside to deter the coyotes. Others suggested the officers have only been issuing tickets to locals not leashing their dogs.
Grant called these criticisms “unfair.”
“We have received numerous compliments,” he said. “People have been calling and emailing me directly, thanking our team for being out there and making a difference in their community.”
“This isn’t about blame. It’s about identifying factors that have conditioned coyotes to be comfortable in an urban environment,” he added. “It’s important everyone works together on this.”
In January, Deputy Mayor Ausma Malik alleged the coyotes in Liberty Village were “displaced from their habitats without proper consideration by the provincial redevelopment [of] Ontario Place and are dangerously entering our growing neighbourhoods.”
She doubled down on that claim during last month’s announcement of the expert panel by suggesting “the province excused themselves from completing a proper environmental assessment” of the site.
Ontario Place is being redeveloped by the Austrian spa company Therme, which faced scrutiny last October when the provincial government gave the go-ahead to cut down hundreds of trees on the West Island.
The Ministry of Natural Resources denied that any coyotes were displaced by the tree clearing and construction. Following two provincial environmental assessments of the West Island in 2022 and 2023, the ministry said there was no evidence of coyote habitats identified at the site.
The findings from the Downtown Coyote Action Plan will be considered by the committee in May. That plan will assess best practices in other comparable urban jurisdictions and explore uses of technology and other tools for diversion.
The Downtown Coyote Action Plan is part of the city’s overall review of its coyote strategy, which will be tabled by the end of 2025.
What to do if you see a coyote in Toronto
Residents are asked to dial 311 if they witness someone feeding a coyote, or if they see a coyote doing the following:
- approaching dogs or people
- exploring a home or building far from a large park or open area
- limping or staggering or with paralyzed hind legs
- acting confused around non-living objects
- biting pets
- appearing sick or injured
