Calgary, Canada Coyote study continuing to reveal that when we humans intentionally or unintentionally feed coyotes.....It can bring on aggressive behavior in our historically "shy of people" songdog

Is it possible to live with coyotes in the city of Calgary?Yes. And we currently are. One of the goals of this research is to demonstrate what we are doing right, what coyotes are doing right, and how to improve co-existence in the long term.

At present, researchers in Calgary have reviewed the literature, evaluated reports of coyote encounters, and have investigated media reports of coyote attacks in Canada. Through this research, a number of key actions have been identified, that will help us to live with coyotes in Calgary, and these include:

• Store garbage, compost and pet food properly
• Never feed coyotes by hand or otherwise
• Remove or clean up after fruit bearing trees
• Never leave dog food in back yards
• Report encounters and observations (to our website or call Calgary 311)
• Do not approach or disturb coyotes
• Leash dogs in known high conflict areas or sites with lots of coyote activity
• Stay away from densites or rendezvous sites
• Stay vigilant in areas with coyote activity
• Take responsibility to educate yourself and neighbours to be good stewards
  

Is there a problem? Recently, a perception has emerged that there is an increase in human-coyote conflicts, especially in urban ecosystems. To understand this truthfully, research is required. To date, research has made it clear that in situations where coyotes may be having difficulty obtaining adequate food and start to eat human food, they can lose their fear of people, which can lead to negative human-coyote conflict (Carbyn 1989). For instance, two Calgary children were bitten by coyotes in 2005, and it was determined that these coyotes had been food conditioned through deliberate hand feeding by humans (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation 2005).

The 2005 coyote incident created a wave of fear amongst Calgary residents and some citizens called for lethal control of all coyotes: Other citizens responded in anger to the lethal removal of two coyotes that reportedly bit the children. A major and highly polarized debate amongst Calgary citizens played out in the popular media.

The Calgary Coyote Project (Department of Geography, University of Calgary) was created following this event, with the hope of addressing the complete lack of research on coyotes in our city. While reports continued to be collected by Calgary 311, we collected new data aimed at understanding urban coyote ecology, including: what they eat, where they eat it, where conflict is worst, and to understand the risk of negative coyote encounters in Calgary. This ecological research is on-going and has expanded to examine urban and rural coyotes. We continue to collaborate with the City of Calgary on these topics. Below, a few of the key results of research are discussed:

What are coyotes eating in Calgary?

Master of Science student, Victoria Lukasik worked with Dr. Shelley M. Alexander and analyzed coyote diet and conflict in Calgary from 2006-2007. Victoria collected coyote scats (coyote feces) in greenspaces and parks across Calgary and determine the presence of natural versus human (garbage, pets) sources of food in the coyote diet. The research aim was to understand what coyotes were eating, where they were eating it, if coyotes in some areas in Calgary were eating more garbage, if diet changed over the year, and if any relationship existed between coyote's eating garbage and coyote conflicts reported to Calgary 311.
In summary, the project found that coyotes in Calgary consume a mostly natural diet of small mammals and native fruit bearing plants. Unfortunately, 1 out of every 6 scats contained some type of discernible garbage. This indicated that coyotes in Calgary are accessing garbage at a high rate. Also, crab-apples and bird seed were commonly found in coyote scat. Combined, the access to human food sources that we identified likely has lead to habituation of some coyotes. Importantly, the areas where high levels of human food were found also were the areas with high reporting of coyote conflict to Calgary 311.

Fortunately, only 3 of 500 scats (less than 1 percent) contained evidence of pet remains. Thus, coyotes may be unfairly portrayed as killing pets. The research also showed that the consumption of pets occurred in the areas of Calgary where coyotes were consuming the highest amount of garbage. Victoria's Master's thesis project was the first of its' kind in Canada, and provided a new understanding of urban coyotes ecology. Her research with Dr. Alexander has immediate practical application, as it can be used by government agencies to develop urban planning and management guidelines.

 For example, the research suggests that bird seed should not be left out where it may be eaten by a coyote, fruit that has fallen from trees should be regularly cleaned up, and garbage disposal should be secured in animal proof bins. The results were disseminated in two different media releases.

Is there a pattern that evolves before a coyote tries to bite someone or kill your pet?

In their analysis of media reports of negative coyote encounters in Canada, Drs. Alexander and Quinn (2008) found that a pattern does emerge that might signal an impending coyote attack on a child or adult. While the incidence of coyotes biting people is VERY LOW in Canada and the United States, there is a trend in coyote behaviour that precedes these events:

First there are multiple media reports of coyotes approaching people in a neighbourhood, followed by reporting of more aggressive behaviour towards pets and people (e.g. chasing a cat), followed by clear contact or aggressive act by the coyote (e.g. killing a pet or biting a person). Importantly, Alexander and Quinn (2008) found that in almost all cases reported in Canada media, coyotes that attacked children had been hand fed, or had been feeding regularly on garbage. This means that citizens have a role to play in reducing conflict with coyotes.

 Why bother to co-exist with urban coyotes?
Research in North America has shown that coyotes play a critical role in maintaining ecosystem function (Baker and Timm 1998, Crooks and Soule 1999, Bekoff and Gese 2003). For example, coyotes were found to help maintain breeding and migratory bird populations, because they preyed on smaller carnivores such as feral cats and mustelids (Crooks and Soule 1999). In addition, it has been suggested that coyotes help regulate white-tail deer, gophers, and Canada geese, which can be problem animals in urban environments (Gehrt 2004, Piccolo 2002).