In response to continued coyote sightings in Liberty Village, city officials on Wednesday voted in favour of developing an urgent "Downtown Coyote Action Plan" to mitigate commonly reported encounters.
Residents in Liberty Village have for months now voiced concern over coyote sightings in the downtown neighbourhood, with several locals claiming their pets have died after being attacked by coyotes.
As a means of creating a new coyote strategy, the city's economic and community development committee approved the creation of a “Downtown Coyote Response Expert Panel" composed of third-party urban wildlife specialists.
Pitched by deputy mayor Ausma Malik, the Downtown Coyote Response Expert Panel will conduct a review of the steps taken so far to limit coyote aggression in the city’s west end.
Beginning this week, panel members will visit coyote hot spots and report back to the city with recommendations on how to handle the wild canines.
The panel will develop a report of its findings and a revised coyote strategy to present to the economic and community development committee by March 10.
Should coyotes be euthanized?
The decision to approve the creation of the coyote response panel came hours after Malik told reporters measures such as trapping and euthanasia will be considered to to combat “the unprecedented level” of downtown coyote confrontations.
Malik said euthanasia would only be used as a “last resort option.”
Trapping and euthanasia is opposed by many Toronto-based coyote advocates, including Nicole Corrado, who created a petition that calls on the city to only use humane, no-kill solutions. The petition has so far been signed by over 400 individuals.
During Wednesday's committee meeting, Corrado said the issue is not with coyotes, but with dog owners in Liberty Village who allow their pets to roam off-leash.
"These are normal coyotes, they've just developed a phobia of dogs," she said.
"These are just ordinary coyotes who have gotten themselves into a very overstimulating and unpredictable environment," Corrado argued. "We need to make the environment feel like they're not going to be at any risk from these dogs because the trigger is the unpredictability of the dogs and the fear of being bitten."
Corrado said humans feeding coyotes has also worsened the problem. This includes unintentional feeding of coyotes via unsealed garbage bins and pet food left outside homes for outdoor cats or dogs.
"People are feeding them and coyotes need to learn that people are boring and not a threat," she continued.
Corrado said killing coyotes in Toronto would be "awful" and would "set the city back years."
She advocated for Toronto to use Coyote Watch Canada's coexistence strategy. Among several recommendations, the strategy says cities should encourage locals to keep pets under strict control by adhering to leash by-laws, develop home placement programs for feral cats and never allow for the feeding of wildlife.
"I hope that Toronto continues to be a humane, progressive and non-lethal city that will stick to coexistence methods because if we kill these coyotes, just more will come in and take their place," Corrado said.
Other urban wildlife professionals and advocates also spoke at the committee meeting. While expressing sympathy for locals who have had their pets killed by coyotes, they pushed for coexistence and argued the deadly incidents are "anomalies."
Why are there coyotes downtown?
Advocates and deputy mayor Malik continued to point blame at the redevelopment of Ontario Place for alleged destruction of coyote habitat and subsequent displacement.
The Ministry of Natural Resources has denied that any coyotes were displaced by tree clearing and construction at the site of the planned Therme spa.
The ministry earlier told TorontoToday that environmental assessments showed no evidence coyote habitats ever existed at the site.
At Wednesday's meeting, Malik again blamed displacement and habitat destruction for unusual coyote aggression in Liberty Village.
Malik said she and her office have been working to advance "immediate measures" to handle coyote encounters, including deployment of staff in key hot spots, education of community members and streamlined reporting of sightings through 311.
She said the development of a new coyote action plan will give "clear direction to staff to pull together experts on coyotes and learn from other jurisdictions similar to Toronto."
Malik said the effort will also see staff "conduct a public outreach campaign to make sure residents understand measures that are being taken to keep them and their pets safe, and determine a process to assess all options, including around relocation and measures for the long haul."
She called on the provincial government for support in completing environmental assessments and financing cost of coyote control.
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; or
- appearing sick or injured.
— with files from TorontoToday's Alex Flood
