Coyotes in the News

[Tony Cooney]

TORONTO -- RCMP have issued a warning to residents in a northeastern Newfoundland town to be on the lookout for a coyote.

A press release from Lewisporte RCMP says a pet has already been attacked in Birchy Bay, and police are telling residents to stay alert when outside with children and pets.

But the warning isn't much of a surprise, as police in the eastern part of the country have been issuing reports of coyote sightings and warning residents to be careful.

In New Brunswick, a Saint-Charles woman saved her puppy at 2:30 a.m. from an attacking coyote. Marie Simon was left with scratches on her hand after the attack, but otherwise she and her puppy were OK.

In Ottawa, the city has been given permission by the Ministry of Natural Resources to hire trappers for two months in response to public safety concerns. Recess at St. Leonard Catholic School in Manotick was cut short earlier this month after a coyote spotting.

In St. Catharines, Ont., a man lost his pet Pomeranian dog to a coyote. Ed Tichnor had let the animal out and it never returned. He said he found the remains of his pet the next day ³about 300 feet from the house, totally gutted, from stem to stern." He added the dog's backbone was broken.

Perhaps the most talked about coyote attack was when folksinger Taylor Mitchell was killed in Nova Scotia last October. The 19-year-old was attacked when she went for a walk in Cape Breton Highlands National Park.

Officials said the attack on a human was rare, as coyotes are generally afraid of them.

But Calgary officials have said that coyote sightings

[Tony Cooney]

Newfoundland hunters want coyotes wiped out
Hunters in Newfoundland are calling on the province to get rid of coyotes that they say are killing off the island's caribou herds.
Wildlife officials in Newfoundland and Labrador say they aren't ready to heed calls from hunting outfitters to eradicate the coyotes, which only appeared on the island in the 1980s.

The predators, which aren't native to the island, are believed to have crossed over from the mainland on pack ice 20 years ago.

The eastern coyote is a non-native species which has colonized Newfoundland.

Ray Broughton says he's invested more than $1 million in Ray's Hunting and Fishing Lodge, a business that relies on caribou to hunt. These days, he says, many of the caribou he finds have been torn apart by coyotes.

"The caribou population is being decimated," Broughton said. "Government and the public have to get informed and involved or – my prediction – there will be no more caribou hunting in five years' time."

Western coyotes aren't known to kill big animals like caribou, but Eastern Canada is likely dealing with a bigger variety that's more like a wolf, says Paul Wilson, a researcher at Trent University in Ontario.

"The eastern coyote is, in fact, a hybrid between the eastern wolf and coyote that expanded from the west," Wilson said. "Whatever animals made it over to Newfoundland probably came from this hybrid eastern coyote."

Newfoundland and Labrador's wildlife department is now spending millions of dollars to find out why the province's caribou population is in decline. However, officials are not yet prepared to