Aggressive coyote targeting unhoused population, Prince George conservation officers warn

Conservation officers in Prince George, B.C., are worried an aggressive coyote appears to be targeting vulnerable people living downtown.

The animal has attacked five people over the past week, sending four to hospital with treatable injuries.

All of those attacked have been unhoused, with attacks generally coming in the late evening and early morning,said conservation officer Eamon McArthur.

"They don't have walls to protect them," McArthur said of the people who have been injured. "And that's where the biggest concern is."

The first round of attacks came between 3:45 a.m. PT and 4:30 a.m. PT on Sept. 26, in the area between Connaught Hill Park and Parkwood Place, a downtown shopping centre.

The city closed Connaught Hill as the conservation officer serviceset several live traps in an effort to capture the animal.

But it proved elusive and, the next day, attacked a fifth person near a bus stop on Quebec St.

All of the attacks were within a half-kilometre of one another, McArthur said.

Problem coyotes unusual forcity

While coyote complaints are more commonin places like Vancouver and Edmonton, McArthur said it has been several years since they last had reports of a problem coyote in Prince George, in B.C.'s northern Interior.

Sage Raymond, a researcher with Edmonton's Urban Coyote Project, has found the animals are highly adaptable to life in cities, particularly if they are able to den somewhere densely covered on a slope which happens to describe the edges of Connaught Hill Park, where the coyote is believed to be residing.

Food conditioning is generally considered to be the primary reason the animals will become more aggressive with people, researchers say, andMcArthur said he is "100 per cent certain" the coyote has become habituated due to people feeding it, often because they were throwing food in an effort to keep the animal away from them.

But, he said, "doing that, now you've enacted the opposite of what you were trying to do," as the coyote has come to associate people with food.

People who see a coyote are advised to instead make themselves look as big as possible, make loud noises and swing sticks or other available objects in an effort to scare the animal off, according to WildsafeBCprogram manager Lisa Lopez.

"You want to be loud and big," she said. "If you have a child or a small pet, pick them up and move away from that area."

Edmonton has also set up citizen patrols that scare coyotes away with sticks and tennis balls in an effort to make them more wary of human interaction.

Patrols in place

In Prince George, it is conservation officers doing the patrols as the downtown coyote continues to elude capture.

Live traps have returned foxes and a bear cub, but no coyote, though McArthur remains hopeful.

If they don't work, the conservationservice may contract licensed trappers to help, as well.

"There's really no going back at this point," McArthur said, noting the coyote has proven to be a danger to humans.

Anyone who sees the coyote, downtown or elesewhere in the city, is urged to call the conservation officer line at 1-877-952-7277.