Coyotes love human food. Where they’re getting their meals may surprise you

Angela Stavrakoukas had 40 good years with her husband, and 16 hard ones after the heart attack. Lakis was a good man, she says, picking at the dusty miller plant at his grave, where she placed two balloons for his 84th birthday.

She didn't bring a slice of chocolate cake, but she has seen other people bring food. Leaving a treat for a loved one is a ritual of mourning and for the coyotes who live inside this sprawling Scarborough cemetery, it is an endless buffet. Stavrakoukas has seen the coyotes many times, especially in winter, when the trees at Pine Hills are bare. On days when they come close to her husband's grave, she goes into her car and cries there instead. Security drives by every 15 minutes she says, and that makes her feel better.

For the city and the cemetery, it's an awkward problem to solve. If she wanted to leave Lakis a piece of cake - and she doesn't - who would tell her she is wrong? Around the world, including countries like Mexico, China and South Korea, a food offering can be part of the grieving process. Some people simply do it just because, leaving behind a coffee, a can of beer, a chocolate bar for a pal on the other side. It's not against the cemetery's rules, and food is eventually picked up by maintenance staff. The Mount Pleasant Group of Cemeteries, which owns Pine Hills, acknowledges it is a difficult problem to address.

You'll see plenty of city signs next to the well-maintained graves: Your handouts are harmful. Don't feed coyotes," they say.

But it's not just grave offerings. Some people purposely feed the coyotes, says the city's chief veterinarian Dr. Esther Attard. Many feel a special connection, and some take comfort in their presence, believing they are watching over loved ones.

It's a really hard thing to overcome," she says, to try to get people to understand that this is not, you know, something that's great for the coyotes."

And that's because coyotes fed by humans lose their fear of humans, which leads to altercations.

For the last decade, coyotes have roamed the ravines and forests in Scarborough's Pine Hills Cemetery, but in 2021, the older brother of that year's litter came to help his parents. Those who study coyotes will tell you they are smart, naturally timid creatures with strong family ties. This fellow loved the food at the cemetery so much that he started venturing into nearby neighbourhoods looking for more.

In July 2021, he followed a 10-year-old girl and her small dog in a nearby subdivision. The girl dropped the leash and screamed for help while the coyote chased and fought her dog. The scary moment was caught on camera - and while the girl was physically unharmed, the dog required surgery. In a followup story, a news crew was filming when the coyote came back, and a nearby man jumped on a car for safety.

Although it's rare for coyotes to attack humans, their presence makes many nervous. People are usually scared for children, pets, and their own safety. In Scarborough's Guildwood neighbourhood, where Toronto police recently warned of a pair of aggressive" coyotes, some have taken to walking with baseball bats, hockey sticks and golf clubs to scare coyotes, says David Strapko.

Strapko has lived in the neighbourhood for 30 years, and he's never seen a coyote until recently. His brother-in-law's door cam in Leaside used to show the rare coyote, but now it's a nightly occurence. Strapko feels like the problem is escalating, and he thinks the city needs to take action in a safe, humane way. (One expert at the time told the Star the Guildwood problem has been caused by chronic" feeding by people trying to get good photographs. She said that people need to reestablish healthy boundaries" for wildlife.)

In Burlington, a series of recent unprovoked" attacks on humans led to the city killing four coyotes and creating a task force. The attacks are uncharacteristic of coyotes and are the first reported attacks on humans in Burlington," the city noted.

Coyote sightings reported to Toronto Animal Services have increased since 2020, but it is hard for experts to get a handle on how many live in the GTA. Media kind of begets more media," says Nathalie Karvonen with the Toronto Wildlife Centre. And the headline is never: Coyote lives in unobtrusive manner."

Studying newspaper articles from 1998 to 2010, University of Calgary professors Shelley Alexander and Michael Quinn found that coyotes are maligned based on isolated and sensationalized incidents." There is a wide gap between perception and reality of risk," when fewer than three people per year (2.4) were bitten or scratched by a coyote in Canada between 1995 and 2010. (In contrast, there are typically around 300,000 cases of dogs biting humans in Canada each year, they wrote. The American Humane Society notes: More people are killed by errant golf balls and flying champagne corks each year than are bitten by coyotes.")

California academics who tracked attacks between 1970 and 2015 noted the problem in Canadian cities and suburbs emerged in the 1990s and appears to be growing." They report two known fatalties, including one in Canada. In 2009, 19-year-old singer Taylor Mitchell was attacked by two coyotes when she hiked Cape Breton's Skyline Trail. We take a calculated risk when spending time in nature's fold - it's the wildlife's terrain," her mother Emily Mitchell wrote after her daughter's death, and the euthanization of the coyotes. She wouldn't have wanted their demise, especially as a result of her own."

In most news stories, coyotes are typically described as cunning enemies. They become characters, like the notorious chihuahua hunter" of the Beaches, or the Etobicoke coyote who allegedly snacked on cats" in 2001. Alexander and Quinn noticed that coyotes are increasingly described like criminals: they are called fugitives, brazen bandits," and ruthless killers, characterizations that lead to widespread fear, an exaggerated sense of risk, and persecution. If we didn't have wildlife in cities, Attard says, it would be horrible. It's just hard to get the people that are really afraid - and they really are afraid - it's hard to get them to come around."

After the Pine Hills cemetery coyote scare in 2021, there was a community meeting at a local playground with Toronto Wildlife Centre, Coyote Watch Canada and the city. While it was normal for a coyote to pass through a suburb, it wasn't normal for one to stick around like this. Killing the coyote, as some people had suggested, would not solve the problem.

Neighbours were given a crash course on being unneighbourly to the coyote, to help it regain its fear of humans. Carry garbage bags to snap, or an umbrella to wave around. Make loud noises. Keep your dogs on leash. Don't leave food outside. Don't turn your back on the coyote. Don't run away. Stand your ground and make noise.

That particular presentation completely changed our minds," says Nisha Madtha, who lives nearby.

Experts say that coyotes are generally not a threat to people, but when they attack humans, the city intervenes, often working with the police and the Toronto Wildlife Centre. Attacks on small dogs, although distressing, are not abnormal behaviour. In 2021, when a coyote bit two runners at Bayview Park, it was tracked down and killed. The city does not attempt to capture a coyote if it attacks a dog.

But with the Pine Hills coyote in 2021, we were kind of between a rock and a hard place," says Karvonen. The coyote was too far gone. They reluctantly" captured it and brought it to a wildlife sanctuary, which is rare. It's sad because we removed him from his family," says Attard. It's not the life he should have had." At the Muskoka sanctuary, the coyote was eventually released back into the wild.

The calls from that neighbourhood have quieted down, but there is nothing to stop another coyote from causing trouble. And that's because it's nearly impossible to stop people from feeding them, Karvonen says.

She remembers the chicken and rice ladies" at High Park in the 1990s.

I said, if you do not stop feeding them, they will be killed. Do you understand that?' And they just kept feeding them."

Those who feed coyotes tend not to see the repercussions: the traumatized children, the scared adults, the dead dogs and coyotes. Just as it's a human instinct to run from danger, it's a coyote's instinct to chase. That's why behaviour around wildlife needs to be taught to children, Attard says. She can understand why people are afraid, but they need the information before these interactions happen. It's just as necessary as swimming lessons, but most people don't know what to do.

When a coyote followed Liz Holtby and her dog on a trail run in Newmarket a few weeks ago, she certainly didn't. Her instinct was to keep running and let her dog off leash because she didn't think she would be able to control her. But off-leash dogs are perceived as threats to coyotes.

I didn't panic, but I wanted to get away," she says. The dog and coyote exchanged some growls, but nobody was hurt. Just scared.

It was like the Littlest Hobo,' it just sauntered along following us, almost like it wanted to hang out with us," she said.

A friend has since bought her a whistle and a bell for her dog. She'll throw it in her pocket for her next run, but she's not sure it will help because the coyote wasn't scared by her yells. Since the incident, she's learned more about what to do. There is a lot of good information online, including a City of Toronto and Coyote Watch Canada course on the city's coyote-specific website, which has logged 57,000 visitors since it launched in July 2020.

The City of Toronto hopes an expanded bylaw against wildlife feeding will help address the root cause. Feeding is currently outlawed in public parks, but next spring, private property will be included. Attard knows that people find joy in feeding animals, especially people who are isolated. Forging a connection with a beautiful animal can be magical.

The city's expanded bylaw has an exemption for people who participate in cultural, religious or spiritual practices outdoors," which would include cemetery offerings. Those are given the okay, provided the person cleans all food from the outdoor location at the conclusion of the practice." But conclusion of the practice" is pretty vague, says Karvonen.

She suggested the city change the wording so that no food could be left outdoors without people present, but that didn't happen.

Of course we are sensitive to people's needs to honour their beliefs, but if doing so puts animals' lives at risk and puts people at risk of being frightened by habituated animals or even nipped by one, it seems that the practice should be amended such that this is no longer the result."

Coyote advice from the City of Toronto

• Never run away from a coyote. Avoid turning your back. Maintain eye contact and slowly back away.

• Make yourself appear as large, imposing or as threatening as possible. Stand up, raise your arms, wave your jacket.

• Loud sounds or noises can encourage a coyote to leave. Blow a whistle, air horn, stomp your feet, clap your hands, snap open a garbage bag or umbrella, yell go away coyote" to alert people nearby.

• Be assertive. Swing a walking stick or cane, shine a flashlight, throw a tennis ball or a small pebble to scare it away.

• Never feed coyotes. Do not approach them, their dens or their young.

• Keep your dog on a leash. If you see a coyote, pick up your dog if possible.

• Call 311 if you see a coyote approaching dogs or people, limping or staggering or injured, acting confused around non-living objects, biting pets. Also call 311 if you see someone feeding a coyote.

• To report a coyote sighting, email animalservices@toronto.ca or fill out this online form.

Katie Daubs is a Star reporter and feature writer based in Toronto. Follow her on Twitter: @kdaubs