Coyotes in your community? Killing them isn't the answer, says expert

As the Town of LaSalle prepares for a Thursday night open house aimed at educating residents about coyotes in urban areas, an expert from Coyote Watch Canada is reminding residents that killing the animals won't solve the community's coyote concerns.

Instead, Lesley Sampson, the executive director of Coyote Watch Canada, says taking steps like removing food sources and preventing habitat loss are more effective at minimizing instances of coyote attacks.

Residents of LaSalle have been wary about coyotes for several months, ever since a number of family pets in the municipality were the victims of coyote attacks earlier this year.

Still, Sampson described coyote culling as a "quick solution," that doesn't necessarily solve the problem.

"We can kill coyotes, but because this habitat is viable and it's sustainable for other coyotes to move in, that's what's going to happen," said Sampson. "It's a lot better to work within the community, within the ecosystem and remove the attractants, provide accurate ecology and biology information … and then folks can make better-informed decisions about how their behaviour can impact these animals."

Sampson acknowledged that it can be difficult to accurately measure coyote populations, since territories can range from five kilometres to 25 kilometres depending "on the resources available and the landscape availability."

Nonetheless, her group attempts to measure coyote populations by taking photographs of individual animals and cataloguing markings and colourings.

"Then you identify how many members are actually living within a certain territory," Sampson said. 

She added that events like Thursday's open house are "fabulous venues to invite residents to come and discuss their concerns, or maybe they want to share stories that they have about coyotes that aren't negative."

"Hopefully anybody that has those deep concerns and has an innate fear — and maybe they're fearful of dogs in general — maybe some of those questions can be answered tonight," she said. 

Representatives from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry, the Windsor Essex County Humane Society, LaSalle police and the Town of LaSalle will all be present at Thursday's open house.