Coyotes

Quick Key Points
Coyotes can become more aggressive and territorial during mating season from January to March.
Denning occurs April and May with pups born in June. You may notice coyotes following you on a walk, which likely means a den is in the area and the coyote is making sure you are leaving.
If you find yourself face-to-face with a coyote, stay put, display assertive behaviour and use hazing techniques to keep safe. Read more about this below!

What Are Coyotes?

Coyotes are seen frequently throughout St. Albert and surrounding area and play an important role in the city’s urban ecosystem as key predators of mice, rabbits, gophers, squirrels, voles and grasshoppers. Coyotes are part of the Canidae family and are closely related to dogs and wolves. They may live in pairs, as individuals, or in family groups of four to six comprised of a mated pair and offspring.

They are most active at dawn and dusk but may be more active during the day in urban environments, especially if they are diseased. They may also shift to nocturnal to avoid human interaction.

They are a generalist species that can change what they eat and where they live very easily. They are highly intelligent and learn and adapt quickly to urban environments and new situations. They will eat food that is available to them including fruit, insects, bird seed, compost, pet food and garbage.

Urban Versus Rural Coyote Behaviour

Rural coyotes tend to be more fearful of humans, as it is common practice for landowners to exert lethal control over coyotes on their properties. In urban areas, coyotes become used to seeing humans and lose their fear. They typically have a different diet in urban areas, which can affect their gut biome. This may result in behaviour changes such as increased aggression and higher daytime activity.

Mating Season

Mating season is January to March and denning occurs between April and May with pups born in June. Litter sizes can vary from 2 to 12 pups (average is six).

Pups stay in the den for six weeks and leave their parents in the fall, becoming transient coyotes looking for a new home range (three to fifteen+ km² in size).

During mating season, coyotes can become more aggressive/territorial and are more inclined to see your dog as a threat and react negatively to it. If you notice a coyote following you on, this likely means the animal has a den in the area and is following you (a common behaviour called “escorting”) to make sure you leave.

Coyotes and You

Safety Tips

If you find yourself face-to-face with a coyote, follow these guidelines to ensure a safe encounter:

Stay put.Stand your ground and never turn your back to run from a coyote; running will encourage it to chase you.
Display assertive behaviour.Treat coyotes assertively, particularly in residential areas, to maintain their natural fear of humans. Make yourself appear larger by waving your arms overhead while maintaining eye contact, and be loud and aggressive.
Use hazing techniques. This includes throwing objects (rocks) toward the coyote, carrying a protective stick to wave at the coyote, or shaking a can containing coins, to create a deterrent effect.By making encounters unpleasant for coyotes, this means they will feel less comfortable being around our homes.

Prevention Tips

Reduce attractants. Clean your yard and remove attractants such as loose compost, unsecured garbage, fallen tree fruit, bird seed, pet feces and pet food. In times of drought, remove water in outdoor pet bowls, watering cans and other water features as thirsty coyotes may be attracted them.
Secure your yard. Lock gates and close openings that may be under porches, decks, sheds, and front steps, and consider installing motion activated lights.
Never feed wildlife. Refrain from feeding wildlife, including coyotes, as it disrupts their natural behaviour and can increase the chances of future conflicts.There is plenty of food available for coyotes naturally. Feeding will habituate them, and they will lose their fear of being around people. It is also an offence under the provincial Wildlife Act to feed wild animals.
Control your pets. Keep your cats indoors, monitor small dogs that are let outside and keep pets on a leash under 6 feet long when walking.

FAQs

Why doesn’t the City remove the coyotes in our neighbourhoods?

Lethal control of coyotes leads to a rebound effect in their reproductive rates. Disruption of family groups and removal of alpha family members (who are usually the only breeding individuals) leads to all females breeding with other males that may be in the area. The increase in available resources from removals leads to larger litter sizes, earlier breeding ages among females and higher survival rates among pups.

Even if up to 70% of the population were to be removed, it would rebound quickly, and likely in higher numbers. Selective trapping or relocation is also not effective, as any removed individuals will be quickly replaced by transient coyotes looking to take over a home range. Trapping is also risky due to the presence of pets that are allowed to roam in the community.

Recent attempts to manage coyotes have involved the use of hazing, or adversive conditioning. This is a non-lethal control method which aims to make human-coyote interactions unpleasant for the coyote. This method only works if all members of the community behave in a consistently aggressive manner around coyotes.

Why are we seeing coyotes in the city?

In urban areas, we have largely removed or driven out the main predator of the coyote, which is the wolf. Coyotes adapt easily to areas with human development, likely due to food sources such as garbage, fruit from ornamental plants, outdoor pets, and intentional feeding. Water from landscaping and irrigation may also attract coyotes. Other species that thrive in human-dominated landscapes (mice, voles, rabbits, and pigeons) also provide a steady food source for urban coyotes.

Urban expansion also pushes humans into the home ranges of the coyote. St. Albert has abundant natural areas and the City is adjacent to agricultural and other natural landscapes. The Sturgeon River valley acts as a natural travel corridor for coyotes and other wildlife species.

What are Coyote’s communicating when they call to one another?

The coyote is a very vocal animal and exhibits many different calls. They use a long howl to show their location, short barks to warn of danger, yips when reuniting with pack members, growls when exerting dominance, whines and wimpers when bonding, and high-pitched barks to summon pups.

It can be easy to overestimate how many coyotes are howling when you hear them. This is an auditory illusion known as the “beau geste effect”, and results from the various sounds made, and how the sounds move through the air. Other animals can create this effect as well.