Good Morning Nicole,
Your below correspondence was shared with me for response.
Thank you for sharing your concerns with us.
When addressing concern related to the presents of Coyotes in our community the Town of Whitby takes a multifaceted approach.
Our approach focuses on coexisting with coyotes and takes a thoughtful, balanced approach to managing their presence in urban areas.
Some of the Town’s efforts to support the community in relation to coyotes include:
Education and Awareness: The Town is focused on educating residents on how to safely coexist with coyotes. This is an important step in reducing human-wildlife conflict and promoting safe, responsible behaviour within the community.
Public Nuisance By-law Amendments: The Town has introduced by-law amendments prohibiting the feeding of wildlife. This helps reduce attractants in neighbourhoods. In addition, property standards encourage regular maintenance to remove debris and other food sources that may attract wildlife.
Coyote Sighting Tool: In 2023, the Town introduced an online tool to track and monitor coyote sightings. This helps identify areas of higher activity and allows Officers to focus educational efforts where they are most needed. To report future sightings, please use our coyote reporting tool here: https://geohub-whitby.hub.arcgis.com/apps/Whitby::coyote-sighting-dashboard/explore
Whitby Coyote Sightings
Promoting Uninviting Landscapes: Through both regulations and education, the Town encourages residents to maintain properties in a way that is less attractive to coyotes, helping to reduce the likelihood of them settling in urban areas.
Door-to-Door Education: In areas with higher levels of reported sightings, Officers may conduct door-to-door outreach to provide information and gather feedback. This approach helps foster understanding and community cooperation.
Long-Term Coexistence Strategy: Recognizing that coyotes are unlikely to be fully removed from the Town, our long-term focus remains on promoting safe coexistence and making residential areas less hospitable through proactive education and prevention.
For your convenience below, I have included a link to our online resources, which provide further guidance on coexisting safely with coyotes.
https://www.whitby.ca/services-and-payments/animal-services/animal-control-and-wildlife/#Coyotes
The Town of Whitby promotes coexistence with coyotes through education, prevention, and responsible management.
Recognizing that coyotes are a natural part of the ecosystem, the Town encourages residents to reduce attractants by not feeding wildlife, securing garbage, protecting pets, and using diversion techniques to reinforce coyotes' natural fear of people. The Town also monitors and responds to sightings, tracks coyote activity, installs warning signage where needed, and works with wildlife experts and partner agencies to help prevent conflicts while prioritizing public safety.
Kind regards,
Kate Novia
Dipl.M.M.,C.P.S.O
Supervisor, Bylaw and Animal Services
Legal and Enforcement Services
Town of Whitby
575 Rossland Road East, Whitby, ON L1N 2M8
905-430-4913
whitby.ca
Together we deliver services that make a difference in our community.