Although it appears coyotes are quite adaptable, councillors here are also willing to change their ways – to eliminate coyote conflicts in Wellington North.
On May 3, councillors reviewed correspondence from the Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) about coyotes in communities and fact sheets about them.
Mayor Mike Broomhead said council had talked about the issue for a while now.
CAO/Clerk Lori Heinbuch said the report is mainly for information. She explained there are options for dealing with coyotes on municipal property versus those on private properties.
“They also sent out information indicating that programs like bounties do not target the animals causing the problems in specific areas, but rather, indiscriminately target all coyotes. They are recommending different options rather than bounties.”
Broomhead said council has identified the issue of coyotes as a problem and was looking for feedback.
Councillor John Matusinec said he read the information with great interest. He asked how the MNR?could say putting a bounty on them does not work.
“A coyote is a coyote; and sooner or later they’ve got to eat and they are going to kill something to eat,” said Matusinec.
Broomhead said the MNR?states bounties or culls are not effective because most of those killed are young and inexperienced – not breeding adults.
“Do you want to give them a chance to grow and get the experience?” asked Matusinec.
Broomhead was uncertain council was getting the information it was seeking. Executive assistant Cathy Conrad said she had researched the issue a few years back.
“Bounties are actually illegal. What happens is that hunters go in and randomly shoot any coyote around. That doesn’t really take out the one alpha animal. You have to remove that one problem animal.”
Conrad said rather than initiating bounties, the intent is to have a plan in place. That is, when there is a livestock kill, there are a certain number of days, and a certain radius from that property to remove the problem animal.
“That generally alleviates problems in that area,” Conrad said.
Matusinec asked, “Does that mean there are some good coyotes out there?”
Conrad said what the MNR is saying is “You need coyotes in the ecosystem because they are what control rabbits, skunks, foxes, and other nuisance animals. You can’t just go out and get rid of all the coyotes.”
Councillor Dan Yake said that recently he’d heard that four counties around Wellington County had implemented something in regard to coyotes.
“We’ve asked for that information to find out what they’ve doing, and how Wellington County is dealing with it.”
Broomhead said council can check what the other counties are doing too. Yake said Bruce, Dufferin, Grey, and Huron Counties all have something in place to deal with coyotes.
“They’re becoming a nuisance. We’ve seen it time and time again with the livestock claims. If we, as a municipality, don’t have the ability to do something, let’s get something through the county, similar to what other areas are doing.”
“Let’s try to solve the problem,” Yake said. He agreed the MNR?documents provide lots of information, “but it doesn’t make me feel much better. There’s gotta be something we can do.” He recommended the information be posted on the township website.
Councillor Ross Chaulk agreed, “We obviously have to do something.” But he also like the option indicated by Conrad.
If there is a problem and the area can be cleared out quickly, “There’s a chance the predator is still around looking for something to eat. I’m not saying that’s the only thing we can do, but if it is the quickest, I’m for it. We’ve had way too many claims. Let’s move on and do something.”
