Coyote attack on dog in Liberty Village leaves woman shaken

A Toronto woman fears coyotes are becoming more brazen in the city after one attacked her dog right outside her home in Liberty Village last week. 

Bianca Tedesco was walking her dog, London, last Monday night at around 9 p.m. 

When she approached her front door, a coyote sprung out of the bushes and attacked her dog. 

The attack happened so fast, Tedesco said she didn't realize what was going on until she heard London yelp. 

Thankfully, Tedesco says she was able to push the coyote off her dog and frighten the animal away. 

Tedesco said she's used to seeing and hearing about coyotes in the neighbourhood, but never would have expected one to attack her near her front door. 

"There are so many coyotes in the area that we're all very scared that something would happen, but it's almost too close for comfort, the fact that it happened right outside my house."

Her neighbour Jamie Fine said coyote sightings seem to be becoming more frequent. What happened to Tedesco makes him nervous for his own dog. 

"How do we know the dog park's gonna be safe? how do we know the sidewalk, walking out your front door is gonna be safe? It's not the best."

Toronto Animal Services Director Esther Attard said the city is aware of a few similar incidents in the neighbourhood and held a community meeting last Tuesday to answer residents' questions and concerns. 

This time of year is dispersal season for coyotes where coyote pups are setting out on their own for the first time, which may be contributing to the increase in sightings, she said. 

At the same time, Attard said the city has received reports of people feeding coyotes, which is a major factor in coyotes becoming habituated to humans and something the city is trying to discourage. 

"It's really important that everybody is consistent with trying to provide aversion conditioning to these coyotes," she said. 

Attacks still very rare, expert says

This isn't the first time coyotes have become a cause for concern for people in the city. 

In August, residents in Etobicoke said a pack of coyotes living in Princess Margaret Park had become increasingly aggressive toward them and their dogs. 

According to City of Toronto data compiled by Radio-Canada, between January 1 and October 31, 2024, the municipality received at least 202 calls regarding coyotes, compared to a total of 180 in 2023.

Of those calls in 2024, 43 involved attacks or bites on animals, and five involved bites or attacks on humans.

Sixteen of those calls came from the Spadina–Fort York constituency, where the Liberty Village neighbourhood is located, compared to 5 in 2023.

Tiziana Gelmi Candusso, a research fellow at the University of Toronto who studies coyote-human interactions, says coyote attacks are rare given the number of coyotes in the city. 

In those cases, there is usually evidence that the coyote had access to human food, which is why it's crucial that people don't feed them. 

"It's hard because feeding seems like such a friendly and innocuous thing to do," she said. 

"But I compare it to almost like poisoning the animals because when you're feeding a carnivore, especially, you are pushing the animal closer to humans and humans aren't predictable."

Gelmi Candusso said she doesn't think residents need to be worried about coyotes, since they exist in almost every city in North America, but that they should be aware of their surroundings if there have been sightings. 

"But the good thing is that the coyote might move on, and attacks on humans are very rare. So I would say be aware but not be scared."