Toronto stepping up response to aggressive coyotes but euthanasia, relocation still off the table

An expert panel discusses how to combat the increasingly aggressive behaviour of coyotes in Toronto.

Toronto is taking additional steps to respond to an “unprecedented” number of negative interactions with coyotes in the Liberty Village and Fort York neighbourhoods but it is not considering relocating or euthanizing the animals at this time.

Officials say they believe four coyotes in the area are responsible for a rash of attacks, some of which involved humans, over the last four months.

They say that the “unusually bold” coyotes “have learned to associate humans with food because of direct and indirect feeding.”

The city stepped up patrols in areas where most issues were reported in the fall and provided educational resources to the community, especially to people living in nearby buildings and residents’ associations. It also added more signage in parks and installed additional lighting.

Today, Carleton Grant, executive director of the city’s Municipal Licensing and Standards department, announced that further efforts will be made to mitigate the problem, including hiring a specialized team to assess the coyotes and apply adapted aversion techniques.

This, he said, will coincide with continued aversion techniques, the removal of human food sources, the repairing of fences and improving lighting and sightlines, and increased community education.

These latest actions were recommended by the newly established, seven-member Downtown Coyote Response Expert Panel, which came together over the last three weeks to undertake a comprehensive review of the city’s response to coyotes in the area between November 2024 and March 2025 and come up with short-term strategies for the affected neighbourhoods to safely co-exist with wildlife. The panel’s recommendations will be used to inform updates to the Coyote Response Strategy.

Overall, the wildlife experts found that the city’s approach is in line with coyote management best practices in other North American cities and warned against capturing and euthanizing problematic coyotes.

“Finally, culling of the coyote population is not supported by evidence and is unlikely to produce desired results (there are always more coyotes who can repopulate the area quickly), and cannot be ethically justified,” the report notes.

“Culling coyote populations indiscriminately has led to counterproductive results elsewhere in North America, including increased conflict with humans or predation of livestock; these effects are the basis for coexistence-driven solutions.”

City says it is taking situation ‘very seriously’

Grant said the city is taking this situation “very seriously,” and would consider employing additional measures if problems persist.

“We’ve committed a number of resources to that,” he said during a news conference.

“Our commitment now is to put these next steps in place, and we will be looking to do them immediately.”

Area resident Ruby Kooner is still grieving the loss of her dog, Amber, who died in December following a coyote attack near Ordnance Park.

Earlier this year, she started documenting negative encounters with coyotes in the community in the hopes of convincing the city to undertake concrete solutions to address the issue.

Spooner also founded Coyote Safety Coalition, which aims to be a space Fort York and Liberty Village residents to stay informed and share experiences about coyote sightings and negative interactions.

She said so far she’s aware of more than 70 coyote-related incidents in the area since November, four of which were fatal.

Residents group disappointed with city’s response to coyote attacks

Spooner said residents have been dealing with this “escalating” issue for five months and are “disappointed” with the city’s response, which they expected would come at the end of February.

She said affected community members had suggested that the city undertake many of the measures it announced today, like hiring professional trackers and a company to pick up and relocate coyotes, performing aversion techniques, and not relying on residents to solve the problem.

“At that point, we were dismissed. Now, we’ve waited several weeks. The issue has escalated beyond this, and now we have to, most likely, wait another several weeks for them to actually get boots on the ground,” she said.

“At this point, we expected more of a detailed action plan with timelines and actionable items, and we did not receive that.”

Spooner said relocating the coyotes beyond the one-kilometre radius that is currently permitted by law is something that should be considered.

“When the city speaks to us, and even in the expert panel report, we can see the influence of Coyote Watch Canada and where our experience is being minimized,” she said.

“In no way are we advocating for coyotes to be killed. We understand the coyotes are a victim of this and we feel bad for them as well. But at this point, residents are afraid to leave their apartments.”

Sponer said it feels like the city is “making the coyotes more important that the residents.”

“The one way they’re doing this is minimizing our experiences and minimizing what’s happening here. We have coyotes that hide by building entrances and then jump out as residents walk out when they’re dogs, it’s not even like it’s happening in parks now,” she said.

Councillor says she shares residents' heartbreak

Local councillor Ausma Malik said the recent challenges with coyotes stem from a loss of habitat in the area, which has resulted in the wild canines exhibiting “increasingly aggressive behaviour.”

“I’ve spoken with many residents fearful of their safety and the safety of their pets, and share their heartbreak at the harm and tragic loss of pets as a result of coyote incidents,” she said.

“My office, with city staff, have been in communication with community members, the Coyote Safety Coalition, on a weekly basis to continue to address and take action on this issue.”

Malik said the third-party panel was formed to address “immediate concerns and with the knowledge that we need to be addressing this issue immediately as well as in the short-term and the long-term.”

“[It] has provided guidance to city staff on how we respond to this situation right now and steps on how to escalate for our shared commitment to resolving this issue,” she said.

The economic development committee will be considering the Downtown Coyote Response Expert Panel’s 19-page report at its May meeting.

With files from CTV News Toronto’s Beth Macdonell