P.E.I. woman sounding alarm after 2 encounters with aggressive coyotes

A dairy farmer in P.E.I. is warning people about coyotes in the area after having two run-ins with the animals on her property since May. 

It's something provincial biologists say could happen more frequently as the Island's growing population and more development change the animals' behaviour. 

Heather Dickieson said her first encounter with coyotes on her farm in North Rustico happened early in the morning. 

She was walking with her three dogs when they came across a "very upset" coyote. She said it was within 10 feet of her and looked like it wanted to fight.

When she turned around to head the other way, she saw a second coyote. The pair had Dickieson and her dogs surrounded, and she said the coyotes were "not scared at all."

"They were snarling, growling, hunched back, lunging, circling us from side to side," she said. "All I could do was scream."

She said the coyotes chased her 13-year-old Labrador off, and she was able to leave with her two Siberian huskies. Dickieson said her husband rushed over in his truck, saving their Labrador and chasing the two coyotes off.

'They were snarling, growling,' P.E.I. woman deals with aggressive coyotes on her property

4 months ago

Duration 2:32

Over the past few months, dairy farmer Heather Dickieson says she's been dealing with aggressive coyotes at her farm in North Rustico and is concerned about her own safety and that of her dogs. CBC's Sheehan Desjardins spoke with Dickieson about her experiences, and with provincial biologist Garry Gregory to find out what to do if you encounter a coyote.

After this encounter, Dickieson said she changed her walking habits. She switched locations to avoid running into the coyotes and started bringing a whistle and bear spray with her. 

But two weeks ago, it happened again. 

Dickieson was walking her dogs along the tree line on her farm when two coyotes approached. One started chasing her Labrador, and the other stayed, watching Dickieson and the two huskies. 

"I thought for sure there was going to be a dog fight with my dogs," she said.

Like the first time, her husband came rushing over in his truck, saved the Labrador and scared the coyotes off.

Dickieson has been farming in the North Rustico area for decades, and said she's never seen anything like this.

While the number of coyotes on the Island is not necessarily increasing, Garry Gregory, a biologist with P.E.I.'s forest, fish and wildlife division, said interactions between people and coyotes are likely to happen more often.

"It's one of those inevitable conclusions of pushing further and further into wildlife habitat with developments," he said. 

"We are of the opinion that every piece of suitable coyote habitat is occupied."

Gregory said there is a limit to how many coyotes can live on the Island. They are self-limiting animals, and territorial. 

That territorial nature may have played a role in Dickieson's two coyote interactions, said Gregory, particularly because she had her dogs with her. 

"That doesn't necessarily mean the coyotes are dangerous or aggressive," he said. "It's a bit of competitive, instinctive, territorial behaviour to have that interaction with the other dog." 

While Gregory said the vast majority of coyote encounters on the Island are no cause for concern, he does recognize they can be alarming. 

He said P.E.I.'s coyotes are larger than those in Western Canada because they have been mixed with wolves. The largest on the Island are in the 50-pound range, he said. 

Gregory said his department gets up to 100 calls a year about coyote sightings. It evaluates each on a case-by-case basis. 

He said situations like Dickieson's are rare, but because P.E.I. is becoming more densely populated, coyotes see and smell people all the time.

"So, that tendency for them to turn around and flee immediately is probably not realistic anymore," he said. 

After each coyote encounter, Dickieson contacted the forest, fish and wildlife division. She said the province approved a permit for a local hunter to put traps on her property to catch them, but that proved unsuccessful.

She thinks the province may approve another permit to let the hunter try again. 

Dickieson hopes people will be aware of the coyotes' presence in the North Rustico area, especially because she lives near a school. 

"I'm in danger, my dogs are in danger, but it is also a public health threat," she said. 

If someone does have a coyote encounter, Gregory recommends trying to make it a negative interaction for the animal — make yourself big, make noise, and don't turn and run, which can trigger the instinct to chase.

"If you see a coyote in and around your property try and make it a bad day for the coyote," he said. "So it associates you with, if not danger, at least a problem it wants to try to avoid."