Coyotes are in Durham to stay: Ministry

Elimination not the answer, says spokesman

March 12, 2010

By Jennifer Stone

CLARINGTON -- An increase in reports of coyote attacks and sightings doesn't point to a population explosion or need to attempt to eliminate the species, says a Ministry of Natural Resources biologist.

Just days after a report of a coyote grabbing a Pomeranian pup off its leash in Pickering, and as municipalities such as Clarington deal with higher-than-usual pay-outs to farmers for livestock killed by wild animals, MNR wildlife biologist John Pisapio addressed Clarington councillors.

What's happening in terms of coyotes is simply cyclical and right now, the population is "healthy," he said.

"The population goes up and down," Mr. Pisapio said, noting a decade ago, people were similarly concerned about coyotes. The population dropped off again around 2001, coinciding with an outbreak of mange which killed off a large number of the animals.

Clarington and other municipalities act as clearinghouses for claims of livestock losses as a result of wild animal attacks; farmers call the Municipality's livestock valuators to determine damage levels, then the Municipality cuts the farmer a cheque for the damages. The Municipality is then reimbursed by the Province.

To the end of October last year, Clarington had paid out $111,436 to farmers for livestock killed by wild animals, up from $83,321 for the same period of 2008.

The best bet to deal with such issues in a farming context is through husbandry, such as through use of guard dogs or donkeys, Mr. Pisapio said.

"The knee-jerk reaction is sometimes to just try to eliminate coyotes in the general area," he said.

But, that doesn't tend to work, Mr. Pisapio noted.

Coyotes are "highly adaptable" and "really robust reproductively," he said. Having fewer such animals simply ensures greater availability of food for them, and they respond by having larger litters.

"There will always be circumstances in the agricultural and urban context where the right decision is to destroy certain animals," Mr. Pisapio said. "But know that in the local area, there will be another pair really soon."

Attempting to eliminate the species simply "doesn't work," he noted.

"Over the last 100 years, various state, provincial and federal governments have spent enormous amounts of money to get rid of coyotes, and now, there are more coyotes than ever," Mr. Pisapio said.

Not only are such attempts ineffective, but "eliminating a species that is native to a continent isn't appropriate regardless."

Live capture and relocation also tends to be ineffective, the biologist said.

"It doesn't make sense to capture a problem animal, take it somewhere else and dump it off," he said, noting there's also a one-kilometre limit on moving most wildlife.

"You could move (a coyote) one kilometre," Mr. Pisapio said. "It'll probably be back in 20 minutes."

Moving coyotes further would mean "exposing it and subjecting it to an unfamiliar landscape," Mr. Pisapio said. "There are risks and ethical considerations."

Beyond that, "you'd just be capturing it and dumping it off in somebody else's backyard," causing problems elsewhere, he said.

In more urban settings, there is a common theme as far as coyotes go, Mr. Pisapio said.

"In just about every incidence in the urban context where we've investigated coyotes acting aggressively toward people, inevitably, there's been some feeding," whether intentional or simply by virtue of food being accessible, such as behind restaurants, he said. "They get used to people being around and their normal behaviour, which is to be very nervous around people, very skittish, is dropped.

"It's the people part we can do something about."