Police shot and killed a coyote in Cabbagetown on Monday night, saying that the animal was behaving aggressively.
The executive director for the Toronto Wildlife Centre said killing wildlife isn’t the answer.
Nathalie Karvonen is the executive director at the Toronto Wildlife Centre.
And she said there are a lot of misconceptions out about coyotes.
“Attacks of coyotes on people are virtually unheard of,” she explained. “If people are not panicking about their neighbourhood dogs, then they should absoloutely not be panicking about the neighbourhood coyote.”
She added that if the coyote was hanging around, there was likely a reason for it.
“It may be because it had a food source in the neighbourhood or even someone (may have been) feeding it in the neighbourhood,” she explained.
Karvonen said in captivity, coyotes are nervous and very afraid of people.
And she said based on what she’s heard, this animal wasn’t a threat and should have been left alone.
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This Natalie women needs to keep her Socialist mentality and opinions to her self!
Perfectly legal to hunt, trap coyotes in Ontario and Canada. They don’t have young yet.
Typical Toronto snobbery!!!!
you should tell this to her parents
I live in the city, and had a coyote on my street last year. It was skinny and scared, and ran away in fear. I found it interesting that even the sound of a gunshot didn’t send the Cabbagetown coyote running very far. Perhaps there has been food left in that area? A garbage?
More interesting to me was the outpouring of sympathy and volume of comments as compared to the 15 year old who was shot and died.
Enough with the bleeding hearts. If this animal had been in your area you would be first to complain. So go back and do what you do best and that is “stick your head in the sand” and just play dead. The animal is a wild animal plain and simple – he was not somebody’s pet. So we wait for the animal to attack a child or someone’s pet then the police once again are the bad guys. They did what they are hired to do and for you bleeding hearts that is to PROTECT THE PUBLIC… Next time you hear of a wild animal roaming someones neighborhood get off your coach and capture it and take it back to the wild. There is an old saying if you are on my turf I have the right to protect it. Congratulations to the Toronto Police you did the Right Thing – Keep up the Good Work…
If there was a coyote roaming my neighborhood (which there ARE, as I live in the suburbs behind a forest) I would be first to be out to shoot it, WITH A CAMERA! NOT complaining or calling anyone for “help”. And our entire area doesn’t cry out when they see one, because clearly unlike people like yourself, we are EDUCATED on wild animals, and KNOW coyotes are NOT out to kill us, just like the Toronto wildlife centre had said in the article! If you are that against wild animals that are not somebody’s pet then are you saying we should go around and kill all wolves, coyotes, bears ,foxes, skunks, raccoons, squirrels, snakes, ducks. etc.etc. Maybe YOU should just stick your head in the sand, because clearly you don’t know whats going on out there when it comes to WILD life and why they are here and the fact they live here WITH us. What were the cops protecting us from? A wandering wild animal that didn’t attack anyone or wasn’t aggressive in anyway? Give me a break. They messed up on this one and killed a living, breathing body that didn’t need to be killed!
Why wasn’t a wildlife officer there with the police last night with a tranquilizer gun? They knew that a coyote was in the area. But instead, they chose to shoot, chase, ambush and eventually kill this animal who certainly showed no sign of aggressive behaviour on the video. At one point, (I was watching the news when this was all unfolding) the coyote actually yawned, looking around, deciding which direction to go. There were police around, cameraman as well as a reporter, not once did the animal show any signs of attacking them. It’s terribly sad that this animal had to be killed the way it was. I went to bed with a heavy heart!
Very disappointed!
I see coyotes once in a while and i seen some face to face. Often they are very shy, and really thin. The police should of just relocated the coyote back into the country away from the homes. More and more people are building malls, homes etc taking over what little wildlife areas we have left. The police were wrong to shot the coyote. They should of let it run free into the countryside away from the cities.
Coyotes are aggressive! I have been confronted by them. Also my little dog almost got it. In 1 week there was 5 at different occasions in my yard, all in 1 week!!!! we laugh at the “tree huggers”.. We in the country side call you– cityots, I read in a “wildlife mag”, that there are more now than 100 yrs ago. It also stated that when coyotes populations are reduced, the next yr they will produce bigger litters.. Farmers lose livestock to these things. I personally know one farmer who lost 3 ewes and their lambs in one week..If you are low on these animals come to the country, we will load your car full.
What happens when you walk your dog out that night or you are walking home from work and this coyote act agressively. ouch!
Lets see that would make 1 attack on 1 of 10 billion humans by 1 of 5 million coyotes. Yup! Dangerous!Better shoot all those people,,,,,
Oh, so because they only kill a FEW people, a tiny fraction of what we do to each other, coyotes should be ignored. Nice logic.
We have small packs of Coyotes in our area and they have followed my dog and I to the mailboxes late at night. Did I call the cops? Or start screaming for it to be killed? Nope, I kept my dog on leash right beside me picked up my mail and went home. Apparently if this were Toronto I would have been in danger of being killed.
You WERE in danger of being killed.
There is the possibility that it could have been tranqued and relocated… however the decision was made… whats the issue here? I see people with the attitude of “oh the poor animal”… I wonder how their opinions would change if a kid of theirs or themselves were to be attacked by it?
Relocate it?? To where, my part of the province??
The first person that has their expensive little dog torn to pieces or worse. Find it alive bloody, and screaming. Then you have to put down your little furry friend down, you will be saying kill them. Guaranteed..
Ok lets show of hands how people think that the police officer was wrong in shooting a coyote?
Ok All the ones who have there hand up please get on a bus so we can take you one by one and meet a coyote face to face, lets see what you would do?
If the coyote killed your child or relative , i would like to see you infront of the coyote saving his life.
Stop with the second guessing. Urban coyotes are a menace to people and pets alike. Wild animals venturing into the city can only be removed permanently in one manner and it’s unfortunate that the manner is death.
The animals we enjoy watching in rural settings as wild creatures are a menace inside the city limits.
When it was shown roaming around at night… I didn’t see too many people around.. I would agree that they are afraid of people, get them in a pack (just like people) and they become more confident and agressive. I’m sorry but this was NOT the answer. Not being equipped with the proper TOOLS to manage this is the real problem. Dart guns to calm them, then remove them. No tools for that? We have NEVER seen a coyote in these areas ever before? IF we have, its OUR bad for not being prepared for it. I could see how agressively it was acting when it was running away from the officer(s)…. Pathetic.
It’s clear the Toronto Wildlife Centre needs to stick to disseminating expertise about wildlife that normally lives in Toronto. If the coyote was really afraid of people like that…news flash, it wouldn’t have come into a populated area. If there is one, there will be more. Where there’s more than one, you can bet there would be trouble as they are keen pack hunters. Unfortunate, but what happened was the best of the bad options.
The Police are always looking for something to shoot, taser or pepper spray…..
Nathalie Karvonen forgot about a hiking girl killed by coyotes in Maritime province a couple of years ago.
Oh my! ONE in eastern Canada 2 YEARS ago.
There are many documented attacks every year. Thankfully, few of them fatalities. Such bleeding heart lunacy over a coyote! Incredible.
Yep, that’s the age old excuse. “The animal was behaving aggressively.” And “one less” is no big deal. Until it’s the last “one” you killed. Thank goodness for do-gooders who stand up and say, “enough” and try to make a difference in the world where so many “do no gooders” live.
If your implication is that coyote are endangered, you’re laughably misinformed. Thanks goodness for do-gooders with the common sense to know when wild animals need to be properly controlled.
“Virtually unheard of”?! There are many documented cases of coyote attacks on people every year. This coyote had been documented to be acting aggressively towards people in an urban environment. Such ridiculous misinformation.
That’s what the do-gooders say! The report was it was acting aggressively. What if the coyote bites someone and they get rabies. One less coyote isn’t going to bring them closer to extinction!
Ok… what if the report was YOU were acting aggressively, if you bite someone and they get rabies or a disease, one less of YOU won’t bring your family closer to extinction!