Wildlife experts are taking a page from police and forensic experts as they work to get a handle on a surge of coyote attacks in the city’s largest green space.
Dozens of people have been attacked or bitten in the park since December, including five in recent days, and officials have killed six of the animals believed to have become aggressive.
On Thursday, the Stanley Park Ecology Society provided an update on initiatives to solve the problem.
The society and UBC have deployed trail cameras throughout the park in an effort to identify individual coyotes, along with possible sources for their unusual behaviour and triggers for the attacks.
What’s more, when suspect coyotes are captured following an attack, the BC Conservation Officer Service has been employing a technique one might find in a crime lab.
“Captured coyotes have their teeth measured to create a bite profile which can be used to identify individuals and match them to a bite incident,” the society said.
“If the captured coyote does not match the profile of the offending animal, it is tagged and released.”
The society acknowledged the situation was “very challenging,” and that it may be some time before “things get back to normal.”
In the interim, it is reminding people never to feed wildlife, or to leave food out in a place where animals could find it.
It’s also urging people to respect park closures, and to stay away from Stanley Park from dusk to dawn, when coyotes are most active.
Kids should be kept close in the park, and animals should be kept on a leash.
Anyone who encounters a coyote should face the animal and try to scare it away with loud noises. The group has also provided instructions on how to create “hazing material” to frighten coyotes away.
Anyone who witnesses someone feeding a coyote is urged to report it here, and anyone who has an aggressive coyote encounter can report it to wildlife officials at 1-877-952-7277.