Toronto responds as 'direct and indirect' feeding fuel coyote attacks
An expert panel is investigating the uptick in attacks.
Toronto officials are stepping up response efforts following several reports of aggressive coyote attacks in Toronto's Fort York and Liberty Village neighbourhoods.
Residents are nervous, following a series of dog attacks.
"Four dogs have died in the past few months,” Carleton Grant, Executive Director of Municipal Licensing and Standards for The City of Toronto, tells The Weather Network's Lauren O'Neil.
Historically, coyotes have always been in the area, but the rise in attacks prompted officials to form a panel of wildlife experts to investigate.
Speaking to reporters earlier this week, experts said part of the problem was due to "direct and indirect" feeding from the public, as well as interactions with pets.
Some coyotes may have also become displaced due to nearby construction.
“The expert panel said the main contributors were that they were being conditioned to food sources and to dogs off-leash. Those are the main contributors to to what's happening and why coyotes have become so aggressive because dogs off-leash have been chasing them," Grant says.
"There have been other incidents of people throwing fireworks into coyote dens. There have been coyote dens paved over by construction. The coyotes have lost their habitat. They are territorial, and they are seeking food sources, and there are a number of readily available food sources in Liberty Village.”
Patrols will be sent to areas where coyotes are known to congregate and will humanely scare them away with loud noises and aggressive body language.
Staying safe around coyotes
To limit coyote interactions, experts recommend:
Refraining from feeding coyotes. At home, don't leave human or pet food outside.
Properly disposing of garbage in public and at home.
Making noise to scare coyotes away. Don't run, as they have a natural instinct to chase.
Never approaching a coyote.
Never touching a coyote, even if it appears tame or is sick or injured.
At the time of this publishing, officials say they have no plans to euthanize the coyotes in Liberty Village and Fort York.
“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,” reads an excerpt from a 2025 review of the city's coyote response strategies.
“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.”
Some residents have suggested relocation but under Ontario law, coyotes can't be moved more than a kilometre, which wouldn't alleviate the problem.
Thumbnail image courtesy: Magdha Ehlers/Pexels. With files from Lauren O'Neil.