Councillors to consider ban on feeding wildlife after coyote encounters in park

Vancouver councillors are being asked to support a ban on the feeding of wildlife as warnings continue of encounters between people and aggressive coyotes in Stanley Park.

The B.C. Wildlife Act, the Fisheries Act, and parks bylaws already prohibit feeding various animals within city limits, but there is no municipal bylaw that covers the act, according to a motion by

Councillor Pete Fry that is set to be debated during Tuesday's council meeting.

Meanwhile, existing powers to ticket those who do feed animals in the park are not being used, according to data relied on by Fry.

“In Vancouver, public education and enforcement around feeding of wildlife in the urban ecosystem is inconsistent and ineffective,” Fry wrote in the motion.

He connected reported attacks on people and dogs by raccoons and coyotes, and an increase in rats, to people feeding birds and wild animals.

“Wild animals can suffer when they get used to eating human food instead of their natural diet. When people feed wildlife, the animals become habituated and can lose their healthy fear of people, this increases their chances of being injured or killed. Feeding wildlife can also directly or indirectly cause aggression in animals, attract vermin and other pests, and transmit diseases,” he said.

Despite this, a freedom of information request turned up no tickets issued by bylaw officers regarding wildlife feeding in Stanley Park from Jan. 1, 2018, to Jan 19, 2021, according to Fry's motion. And neither the park board nor B.C.'s conservation office had been doing any ticketing either, he found.

Fry called for a bylaw that banned the feeding of or attracting wildlife, with exceptions for hummingbirds and songbirds, and clear and easy to understand signs to promote the new rule. Those who flout it would be subject to a ticket.