Montreal draws up 'hazing' campaign to make coyotes fear humans again

Montreal is hiring a team of specialists to roam around the city and scarecoyotes in an effort to train the wild animals to fear humans.

Calling it a "hazing campaign," scaring the coyotesaway from people with "negative conditioning" techniques is part of the city's new plan to promote cohabitation with urban coyotes a plan that includes killing animals only when they are overly aggressive.

"This first management plan gives us the necessary tools to manage and coexist effectively with the coyote on the territory of Montreal," saidmilie Thuillier, mayor ofAhuntsic-Cartierville, in a statement.

Highly adaptable to urban life, coyoteshave been living in Montrealsince at least 1973, the city says. But they have been spotted with increasing frequency in recent months, especiallyin the boroughs ofVilleray-Saint-Michel-Parc-ExtensionandAhuntsic-Cartierville.

In a Monday afternoon news conference held at Montreal's Botanical Gardens, Thuillier said the ultimate goal is to ensure the population is safe and to do that, the city is investing about $150,000 a year into its new urban coyote management plan.

It's the first time a Quebec municipalityhas launched such an extensive plan. The city needs to do more than just relocateor euthanize urbancoyotes, Thuillier said, as these techniques have proved ineffective on their own.

According to the city, 19 people have been bitten by coyotes since June 2017 the month Montreal started tracking coyote sightings. All 19 victims sustained superficial wounds.

When coyotes bite, said Thuillier, it's a sign they don't fear humans and associate people with food. These are two factors, she explained, that the city wants to take out of theequation.

To do that, she said the citywill strengthen the enforcement of certainbylaws, including the prohibitionagainstfeeding wild animals, keeping dogs leashedand ensuring people properly dispose of garbage and food waste.

See a coyote? Call it in

The city is calling on the public to report coyote sightings as Montreal worksto track the animals.Thuilliersaid the city wants to know where the coyotesare and what they are doing when people see them.

The city set upan online reporting formand hotline to report sightings in April. There have been hundreds of reported sightings since.

"We are going to continue to use the hotline because it is really important to know how coyotes are acting in Montreal," she said.

However, she added, if somebody fears for their safety because an animal is acting aggressively, they shouldcall 911 and police will intervene.

In cases where coyotes have bitten people, the city says it will try to identify, capture and euthanize the animals.

Hazing team to scare off the animals

In areas where coyotes appear to have lost their fear of humans, a city-hired team of specialists will be deployed.

The specialistswill spend several hours a day, Thuillierexplained, making noise and scaring the animals. The goal is for coyotes to relearn their natural fear of humans.

The next step, she said, will be to train city employees to do the job of scaring coyotes. Citizens whoare interested in taking up the cause may eventuallybe trained as well, she said.

The city also plans to plans to capturesome coyotes and attachGPScollars to them so their movements can be tracked. That study will begin next year.