Wildlife experts teach Montreal families how to handle coyote encounters

Wildlife educators spent Tuesday evening helping families in Montreal’s Ahuntsic-Cartierville borough learn how to co-exist with coyotes.

Members from Le Groupe uni des éducateurs-naturalistes et professionnels en environnement (GUEPE) set up shop at Parc des Hirondelles to show children and their parents what coyote fur looks like, how to notice their droppings, and what not to do if they come across a coyote.

Two of the last three coyote attacks in Montreal took place in Parc des Hirondelles.

READ MORE: Montreal residents worried after coyotes bite 3 children in separate incidents

The last one was over the weekend when a three-year-old child was bitten by a coyote.

“We looked at all the large North American cities that have coyotes and took their best practices,” explained borough mayor Émilie Thuillier.

“Removing coyotes doesn’t work, they just come back,” she said.

The City of Montreal says its plan is to capture or euthanize only aggressive coyotes and to educate citizens on how to avoid confrontations with the wild animals.

READ MORE: Montreal implementing measures after three children attacked by coyotes

There have been more than 600 coyote sightings in Montreal in under a year.

Some residents in the area say the city’s plan is not enough.

“It’s a question of time before a child gets seriously mauled. They should at least trap them and relocate them,” said resident Carlo D’Anello.

D’Anello is working with other area residents to try and get the city to change its policy.