Vancouver Park Board warns against feeding coyotes during denning season

As coyote denning season approaches, the city is reminding Vancouverites to stay safe — and to keep coyotes safe — by not feeding them.

Between December 2020 and December 2021, there were 45 reports of people being bit by a coyote in Stanley Park, fuelling a debate on whether the animals should be culled.

And as coyotes create dens for their pups, becoming more active and looking for food, people are likelier to run into them, warns the city.

Dana McDonald, environmental stewardship coordinator with the Vancouver Park Board, says there should be no reason for culling if people can avoid feeding the coyotes.

"What we're really wanting to do is get that message out there that by feeding that coyote you are likely leading to it being destroyed," she said on CBC's The Early Edition.

McDonald confirmed the increase in coyote aggression last year happened because of the feeding.

"So by removing that link, we can keep coyotes safe and we can protect ourselves."

She added the increase in attacks is also likely a result of the changes brought by the pandemic.

"I think that there were some changes in Stanley Park at the beginning of the pandemic, people using different parts of the park at different times of day and that might have disrupted coyote patterns and as well, I think we were seeing a lot more people spending more time in the park and feeding wildlife," she said.

According to McDonald, people are likely to run into coyotes in larger forested areas, such as Stanley Park and golf courses. 

If you do, McDonald says it's important to appear big and loud, and if the coyotes don't back off, to call the provincial RAPP line.

"Protecting those coyotes means all of us doing our part to make sure that animals and people can enjoy green spaces without negatively interacting with each other."