Concern over coyotes gets political on the Mountain

City says there have been zero reports of interactions with pets, people

Despite concerns over coyotes in Bruleville Park on the Mountain, the city says there is no cause for action or alarm.

Dan MacIntyre, a Ward 7 candidate in Hamilton’s fall municipal election, is calling on the city to remove what he calls a coyote den in the park, after a visit by animal control officers resulted in no action being taken.

City officials say they did not find a den.

However, MacIntyre said residents believe there is one because of sightings and were never told there isn’t one.

“It’s an issue that is continuing to escalate and get worse as time goes on,” he says about the coyote presence “in the middle of an urban neighbourhood in a small strip of very dense forest with houses backing onto it.”

MacIntyre disagrees with city policy not to intervene in wildlife.

He took his election campaign door to door Thursday to drop off 800 flyers to raise awareness about the coyotes.

MacIntyre said the coyote presence is disconcerting because of the hundreds of homes in that neighbourhood.

“I fear we’re getting to the point that ... it will take someone being attacked for the city to act.”

City animal control supervisor Callum Burnett said there have been 237 reported sightings of coyotes across Hamilton — five in the Bruleville area — since Jan. 1, but no reports of any interaction between them and pets or people.

“We didn’t see anything that raised concerns,” he said of the Bruleville situation.

Still, you should walk your dog on a leash, he warns, because “coyotes are opportunists.”

Coyotes are extremely difficult to capture and there are provincial laws protecting them, he said. The city would only act if there is an imminent danger to people.

“We look at educating people rather than removal. If we remove them, it doesn’t solve the problem. It just creates space for other coyotes to come in.”

But there are precautions to take when encountering coyotes, he said. (For more information, visit http://bit.ly/hamcoyote.)

Bruleville Park-area resident Betty Steinbock is concerned the coyotes could become a health and safety issue, and wants everyone to be aware of them.

“We have a lot of dogs and cats,” she added.

The coyotes frequent the park’s nature area just off Skylark Drive, between Skylard and Limeridge Road East, and between Flamingo Drive and Pinewarbler Drive, she said.