What’s behind a spike in coyote sightings in Hamilton?

From a distance, Megan Hutton thought she spotted a dog bounding down the middle of the street.

And as it got closer, it was clearly not a loose dog," Hutton recalls. It was a coyote."

Larger than she imagined a coyote would be, the canine seemed to stride by without a care in the world.

Like it owned the street," says Hutton, whose home, off Dundurn Street North, backs onto Hamilton Cemetery on York Boulevard.

Though the coyote caught her off guard," the wild urban dwellers are commonly spotted in her Strathcona neighbourhood.

In fact, Hutton, an animal lover with two dogs at home, often hears them yipping at night in the cemetery, where they roam.

That encounter was in 2020 - Hamilton's Year of the Coyote, at least unofficially.

Last year, the city fielded 776 reports of sightings from the public, up from 282 in 2019 and 403 in 2018.

But that doesn't mean there are more coyotes, points out Karen Edwards, an adviser in the city's animal services division.

I think it is all about whether people are noticing them."

Edwards wonders if more people being kept home from work and school due to the COVID-19 pandemic might have something to do with the spike.

It was an anomaly in our numbers. Definitely."

Ontario's Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry offers the same pandemic-related theory about coyotes.

The ministry says, it doesn't mean there are more animals - it's just that we weren't home to see it before."

Winter also makes for a seasonal uptick in sightings. In the summer, coyotes spend considerable time in fields and bush - areas that become more exposed when foliage drops in the colder months.

Effectively, there is less coyote habitat out there in the winter, thus concentrating a similar number of coyotes and giving the appearance of a higher overall density," ministry spokesperson Jolanta Kowalski wrote in an email.

The ministry and Coyote Watch Canada alike also note that coyotes have lived in urban areas, just like raccoons and skunks, for decades.

If people are seeing a coyote regularly coming around, there's a reason for that," says director Lesley Sampson, who has advocated for the animals for 20 years.

Often, it's sustenance, she adds.

You have natural movement in and out of a territory, but it's when the food is provided that it really impacts and influences how animals forage and hunt."

It doesn't help when people deliberately feed coyotes, or toss garbage out of their car windows, Sampson points out.

Coyotes are identifying the car as a food dispenser."

This can lead to problems. They've got some bad manners; they're willing to take a chance and get closer to people because the reward is food."

Hamilton has a bylaw that prohibits feeding wildlife. It carries a fine of up to $10,000. Last year, the city issued 10 charges under the bylaw.

Edwards says people have spotted coyotes all over the map in Hamilton, from the Mountain to the lower city.

That includes upper Stoney Creek, where Coun. Brad Clark has advised residents around Felker's Falls Conservation Area to watch their pets when they're in the backyard, especially if they don't have a high, solid fence.

Then you really should be with your animal when you're out, and your children," he said.

It is us, not the coyotes, who have encroached on natural areas, including in subdivisions that fan out from Mud Street, east of the Red Hill Valley Parkway, Clark points out.

Now they're coming to what they thought was their hunting territory and they're saying, Whoa, where did these houses come from?'"

In one of those subdivisions, a wooden fence separates Nancy Bouchard's house near Felker's Creek from a vast field of tall grass that ends at a stand of trees.

Bouchard figures she has seen coyotes three times in the past year on the trail that meanders behind her home.

She keeps her docile" yellow lab, Oakley, leashed when they go for walks, but they don't take the path, Bouchard says.

I don't know if he'd scare them away or get killed, but it would be me that would be freaking out."

Keeping dogs on leashes in natural areas is crucial, says Edwards, noting reports of coyote encounters along escarpment-hugging rail trails.

When pooches run free or even ahead on flexible leashes, coyotes - wary of threats to their young in dens - don't see humans with them, she notes.

So we've heard of instances in the past where it goes after the small dog on the flexi-lead."

For Sampson, of Coyote Watch Canada, the reaction makes sense, even for humans.

That's their family. We would behave in the same way."

Reports of coyotes snatching small breeds from backyards are tragic, Sampson adds.

We never want to hear of a family that's lost a loved one."

For instance, the Burlington Post reported a local resident's account of how her 12-pound toy poodle had been snatched by a coyote from a fenced backyard just before Christmas.

But you can't blame coyotes, even if they indeed made off with people's dogs, Sampson says.

Even a bird feeder on a back porch is a magnet," she points out.

The fallen seeds can attract not only birds, but also rodents, which draw coyotes.

Sampson chafes at fear-mongering" and myths" that can arise from reports of coyote-dog conflicts.

But for every negative reaction to coyotes, there are plenty of worried calls to her organization reporting a hobbling coyote, she says.

Megan Hutton, who spotted the coyote in Strathcona, notes her dogs - one a great Dane and the other a French bulldog - go berserk" when they hear the calls in the cemetery at night.

She's not overly" concerned about their wild cousins posing any threat.

But run-ins with skunks in the neighbourhood? Now, that's a different story.

I worry about the skunks far more than I do coyotes."

Teviah Moro is a Hamilton-based reporter at The Spectator. Reach him via email: tmoro@thespec.com

Coyote coexistence

Ontario's Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry says coyotes are usually wary of humans and avoid people whenever possible."

However, if you do have an encounter, here are a few tips to keep you safe:

• Never approach or touch a coyote.

• Do not turn your back on, or run from, a coyote.

• Back away from the coyote while remaining calm.

• Stand tall, wave your hands and make lots of noise.

• Carry a flashlight at night to scare off coyotes.

• Keep your pet leashed and do not let pets chase coyotes as it could result in injuries to your pet.