Main Conclusions
- Humans and coyotes are co-occurring mainly in modified open maintained habitats, and the reporting density in residential areas is similar to that of natural areas. Certain neighbourhoods, especially those near the river valley, have a much higher reporting frequency than others and the density of reports in neighbourhoods varied between 2012 and 2019.
- Coyote sightings and encounters are significantly lower during the pup-rearing season, which does not align with previous findings. However, the higher percentage of encounters occurring in pup rearing seasons compared to the percentage of sightings suggests that conflict may be more likely when coyotes are denning. The highest likelihood of encountering a coyote occurs during evening hours and the number of encounters didn't vary across daylight hours.
- Over the past 10 years, there is not substantial evidence for an increase in human-coyote conflict.
Applications
Based on these findings, we recommend several actions for wildlife managers, the general public and policy makers to facilitate human-coyote coexistence:
- Focus aversive conditioning efforts on modified open maintained areas of mowed grass such as schoolyards and dog parks to maximize the effectiveness of these efforts on reducing coyote boldness and encouraging avoidance.
- Establish seasonal on-leash areas to reduce the number of encounters during pup rearing seasons to limit the number of negative encounters relative to sightings.
- Continue to monitor the number of encounters relative to the number of sightings, and be prepared to implement more severe aversive conditioning programs if the conflict scores trend upward.