Saw Two Coyotes

by Mike
(Brampton, Ontario, Canada)

About 2 months ago I was driving up Mississauga Road heading South just past Embleton Road at night and as I topped the hill I saw what looked like two Wolves dart at speed across the road.


It was past 10:00 pm and they vanished into the Lionhead Golf Course grounds.

I live just past that golf course, my street practically ends at the Golf Course itself. Needless to say I was concerned. I had seen smaller foxes before in the area but never such large animals.

Later reports indicated these may have been Coyote - not Wolves. Large and dangerous animals none-the-less.

Sure enough, a few weeks ago my wife had just driven up to the house, unloaded both our infants one by one out of the car and into the house, turned around at the front door to go empty out the groceries from the car trunk - and stopped cold in her tracks when she saw a Coyote staring back at her from behind her own car!

She immediately retreated inside and was quite shaken and distraught as she could easily have walked right up to it before seeing anything as it had been hidden behind her car that she had just driven up in and parked few minutes ago.

We called 311 to report and were told "Yes, it's already been called in. WE are second caller about the animal at large in that area. Thanks for calling it in....." and that was that.

Then we had a city of Brampton employee going
door-to-door stop by to distribute Coyote pamphlets the other day. While they recognized this was a dangerous type of animal - one which they themselves were not comfortable trying to actively chase, they indicated that apart from a few walk-in-box type traps they were not doing anything about it.

The logic was that the Coyotes are part of the eco-system.

While that is very nice, our family's safety - our little children's safety comes before wildlife and eco-system conservation in an area where there is so much new development happening recently.

This issue never occurred before the past few months however, it appears that the new sub-division coming up on the north-west corner of Mississauga Road and Steeles Avenue had disrupted a Coyote den.

We have lived in the area for almost 3 year, and never had these issues before.

I guess picketing in front of the new developers offices will alert prospective buyers to the dangers of moving their young and precious families to such a dangerous neighborhood.

I hope it doesn't take a person's death for the city to wake up and send in hunting parties to track down and eliminate the threat to our families.

Once I've organized some picketing around the sales offices I'm sure the right kind of action will be taken immediately to eliminate this threat, however, I'm skeptical if any decisive action will be taken before some builder actually thinks they may lose money by people being scared away from the area.

- Concerned Citizen of Brampton Mississauga / Steeles Area

Comments for Saw Two Coyotes

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Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		Financial/Steeles Sighting
by: Anonymous

I too, am of a slightly different perspective. Though I myself have not personally been attacked, there are now at least 3 attacks (that I know of) on humans in my neighbourhood since September. One, in her own driveway and after her two small kids had just stepped in the house (similar to Mike had originally posted). I have not heard of any similar attacks from neighbourhood Pit Bulls or Rottweilers, so for this reason, the Coyotes are currently more of a concern to us at the moment. Just yesterday, before 9:00 pm my Mom had let our dog out in our yard to pee. About a minute after, I heard my mother screaming at the top of her lungs. I ran out to find my dog barking at a Coyote on the other side of our fence. I quickly ran out and instinct told me to yell and move my hands around (this seemed to work!) I quickly scooped my dog up and brought him inside. I attempted to take him out to the front, leashed, however definitely find myself even scared doing this, (given recent events) and always looking both ways. If we could, as some posters suggest, find a way to live and flourish alongside the Coyotes that would be wonderful, however I am of the opinion that our safety and the safety of the little ones come first.
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		Coyotes in our neighbourhood
by: Anonymous

Being a recent attack victim gives me a tad different perspective. Being attacked in my neighbourhood while walking my leashed dogs was a horror that I don't wish for anyone to experience. Coyotes/coywolves have become very bold and seem to have very little fear, mostly because they live so close to us. Despite "taking" their land and all the other horrible things we've been doing to them for centuries, our safety is the priority. If they'd mind their business we wouldn't have to take extreme measures such as carrying knives and sprays when leaving our house after 7 pm. The city of Brampton has hired hunters to kill them, as trapping is too difficult. I've been receiving updates and it seems they are trying to calm the neighbourhood.
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		Coyote Fear
by: Brian

I understand your concern for your children but statistically they are 100 times more likely to be mauled by a neighbourhood Pit Bull or even Rottweiler than a Coyote - although Coyote attacks have happened, they are extremely rare - dog attacks on children are not uncommon at all.
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		Coyotes in Missisauga
by: Pickering Nature Lover

So sorry you were / are scared of the Coyotes.
They are as you say "part of the ecosystem". They will not harm you or your precious children. If they are "removed" in some way, another predator will take its place. Coyotes hunt small mammals, rabbits, chipmunks, squirrels and so on. They are not interested in humans as food! Although they are known to kill cats, who are allowed to roam freely, and small dogs by mistake, if they can catch them.

You are quite safe and there is no need to campaign for their capture or removal! Please don't!
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		We will have to learn to deal with it
by: Anonymous

The Coyotes do belong to the local ecosystem, in spite of it being a sub-urban setting. You and your family have a right to live where you want to live - that is, in the suburbs - as do the Coyotes and their families.

You chose to live in a suburban setting and therefore unconsciously accept the risk of having to deal with the local wildlife. The Coyotes have been offered no such choice by invading humans. We just plunked ourselves down and basically told the Coyotes to "deal with it". Well, they have dealt with it, by living and flourishing alongside humans. In terms of an evolutionary adaption, it's a tremendous advantage for the Coyotes, however different the "newly invaded" humans feel about it.

So, now that the coyotes have dealt with it, now it's your turn. Be observant of your house and neighbourhood, teach your spouse / children to be observant and cautious, don't leave garbage, food and other types of alluring refuse near your house, keep your cats inside, walk your dog on a leash and learn some of the known behaviours of Coyotes to help you deal with encounters.

I'm sure this was a negative experience for you but rest assured that Coyotes have experienced many, many negative experiences at the hands of humans. So, this is not a first-time experience for either of the species. We need to learn to live together. If the Coyotes have learned how to live with humans, I should think that humans, equipped with frontal lobes, could at least figure out a way to live with the coyotes.

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