By Pepper Parr
September 21st, 2022
BURLINGTON, ON
The people hired to eliminate the coyotes that were biting residents in the south east section of the city have killed the three that were believed to be attacking people.
Three coyotes have been killed to date.
At a city Council meeting last night the public was told that the experts hired had tracked and killed three coyotes – adding that no one was certain that there were no other coyote’s out there that might harm people.
Council also approved an increase in the fine for anyone caught feeding coyotes.
It had become clear to the people tracking the animals that the coyote behaviour was the direct result of some people feeding the animals.
Council increased the ticket for feeding the animals to $300 from $150.
They also approved the ability to take people to court rather than just issue a ticket. The fines sought at court will range from a minimum of $5000 to a maximum of $100,000
I saw the meeting. The discussion was fulsome and to the point. I am glad the City raised the fines and would support that in the future.
This is an excerpt from our delegation to Council on this subject yesterday. The Mayor’s reluctance to lay fines in these particular situations which she claims we need around a million dollars of emergency funding from the Province to deal with, is clearly not in line with public and the rest of Council’s position.
“Take heed, eyes are on Committee and Council and what we see in the community with regards to written notices and active By-law Officers in addition to sharp shooters. You cannot simply introduce a By-law and believe your job is done. More attacks in the next month or so, or not. We would like to see something in the minutes in terms of a Council statement that approving the by-law does not mean the job is done, there must be enforcement.
After getting this down on paper for our delegation Dave alerted me to a newscast interview with the Mayor. In the interview she advised that the city is presently discussing raising fines for feeding the animals. She followed this with, “hopefully it will be seen as a deterrent and we won’t have to lay a fine.” That is not what I heard was the position of Council members at Committee. One councillor wanted to raid reserves to get the money to make sure the fines were administered. “
Undoubtedly there are many, many more coyotes in all of these corridors. I and we can hope, there are no future attacks however there is absolutely no assurance.
I read a “serious” “funded” study undertaken by the city of Bloomingfield, Colorado where they attributed only 1/3 of attacks to citizens feeding animals. I am sure there are many other studies out there.
It is not clear to be from what I have read that Burlington has approved the necessary one time and ongoing financial resources to ensure public safety going forward.