Humans and coyotes can live next to each other

RE: ST. CATHARINES TO ASK FOR HELP DEALING WITH COYOTES AND HYBRIDS, AUG. 15

I believe you let your readers and community down with the tone of this story, and missed an opportunity to provide some context about coyote behaviour and how humans, coyotes and other animals might coexist in our shared natural world.

Much of the coyote behaviour described doesn’t pass the smell test. Coyotes’ main impulse is to avoid human interaction and conflict whenever possible, so anecdotes about coyotes chasing workers and blocking someone from entering his house make me skeptical.

Any balanced ecosystem includes predators, and omnivores like coyotes fill that niche in Niagara. We’ve killed off the wolves, cougars and bears that were native here, and coyotes’ ability to live in proximity to humans, and share our rural and urban landscapes, make them well adapted to live beside us.

And living beside us doesn’t pose the challenge some might imagine. If you decide to live next to a natural area like Martindale pond, be prepared to share the land with non-human neighbours. If you have small pets or young children, supervise them and be with them outside. Clean up your garbage. This is all good practice whether or not there are wild animals around.

I don’t know what steps city council will take, and I hope councillors seek advice and help from groups like Coyote Watch Canada. I trust lethal measures won’t be considered, because we’re better than that. If relocation is suggested, I hope council understands this will only break up family units and destroy strong social bonds, which is a good way to encourage problematic behaviour. And places like Martindale pond and other natural corridors will continue to be good coyote habitat, so new animals will move in.

We have a stark choice about how to live in relation to the natural world. Continued development and consumption of habitat and the climate crisis will keep putting intense pressure on the living world, and it is up to us to decrease that pressure wherever we might.

Mike Kraft

St. Catharines