University of Nebraska - Lincoln DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln Wildlife Damage Management Conferences -- Wildlife Damage Management, Internet Center Proceedings for 4-1-2007 MISSING CATS, STRAY COYOTES: ONE CITIZEN’S PERSPECTIVE Judith C. Webster Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/icwdm_wdmconfproc Part of the Environmental Sciences Commons Webster, Judith C., "MISSING CATS, STRAY COYOTES: ONE CITIZEN’S PERSPECTIVE" (2007). Wildlife Damage Management Conferences -- Proceedings. 78. https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/icwdm_wdmconfproc/78 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Wildlife Damage Management, Internet Center for at DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. It has been accepted for inclusion in Wildlife Damage Management Conferences -- Proceedings by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. Missing Cats, Stray Coyotes: One Citizen’s Perspective * Judith C. Webster , Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada Abstract : The author explores the issue of urban coyotes and coyote management from a cat owner’s perspective, with specific examples from Vancouver, B.C., Canada. Following a personal encounter with two coyotes in July 2005 that led to the death of a cat, the author has delved into the history of Vancouver’s “Co-existing with Coyotes”, a government-funded program run by a non- profit ecological society. The policy’s roots in conservation biology, the environmental movement, and the human dimensions branch of wildlife management are documented. The author contends that “Co-existing with Coyotes” puts people and pets at greater risk of attack by its inadequate response to habituated coyotes, and by an educational component that misrepresents real dangers and offers unworkable advice. The environmental impact of domestic cats is addressed. The author makes the case that generalized opinions about the negative effects of cats on songbird populations and other wildlife, and assertions that urban coyotes are beneficial, are unsupported by objective experimental data. When environmentalists, who predominantly hold these views, also research, promote, and oversee urban wildlife policy, there is a consequent lack of interest in restricting coyote populations in cities, along with little concern for the fate of outdoor cats and even a desire for their depredation. Key Words : Canada, Canis latrans , cats, Co-existing with Coyotes, conservation biology, coyotes, deep ecology, Felis catus , human dimensions, pets, predation, Stanley Park Ecology Society, urban wildlife, Vancouver B.C. *Although not presented at the Symposium, this paper was accepted for inclusion by the editors. Previously published in an earlier version as : Pp. 437-503 in : Proceedings, 12 th Wildlife Damage Management Conference (D. L. Nolte, W. M. Arjo, and D. H. Stalman, Editors). 2007. Wildlife Damage Management Working Group of The Wildlife Society . A COYOTE NUISANCE REPORT, held eye contact as the slighter coyote trotted in a semi- VANCOUVER, B.C. circle into the street to my right and out of peripheral I intervened in an attack by two coyotes on a 22- vision. pound cat. At 1:07 a.m. on July 1, 2005, I was alerted As these events transpired, all the things I had been that something was very wrong by one of my three told about coyotes 4 years earlier in a conversation with outdoor cats crashing through the cat door. I jumped up “Co-existing with Coyotes” program coordinator Robert and looked out the kitchen window. Under the sickly Boelens went through my head. One by one, like a yellow light from the street-lamp across the road, I saw checklist, I was going, “THIS isn’t true; THIS isn’t true; the coyotes standing together. One had a cat by the neck, okay, THIS isn’t true either”. Size. Weight. Timid. limp as a rag doll, shaking it back and forth. Its body Exhibit natural fear toward humans. Children shaking a rippled as though the skin was being detached from the can with pennies will scare them away. Cats not a underlying tissue. It was either Neutron or Donovan. primary food item. Usually solo. Considered a nuisance My brain virtually short-circuited. Seconds seemed animal like squirrels or raccoons. As I stood transfixed, like hours. I exploded out the back door and side gate fear for myself was added to the horror over Neutron. I onto the street, barely dressed, and unarmed. I ran at the wasn’t going to get out of this unscathed. I hissed. coyotes. They looked like young adults, with salt and At the far end of the block, behind the lead coyote, a pepper coats, German shepherd-sized but longer-legged. man walking a small white dog rounded the corner. The They were startled and dropped the cat. I charged down coyote behind me bolted on a diagonal, the one in front the street after them, but my top speed under ideal turned and followed. They disappeared through the circumstances is 9 miles per hour compared to their 40. schoolyard across the street. I heard the dog man, now They bounded off. I returned to the cat; it was Neutron. cradling his own pet tightly, offer me firecrackers. I He was suffocating, gurgling, unable to move, with made my way back to the house in slo-mo. The taxi minimal blood visible in his neck fur. Before I could lift came as quickly as I could ready Neutron and myself for him, the coyotes were back and running around beside the journey, but the ride to the clinic was endless. Every me. If they were dogs, they would seem almost playful. I stop or bump in the road seemed to drain the last breath could not risk stooping down. I charged at them again at out of this creature in my lap, my friend, who just a short full speed, and once more they seemed to be gone. time ago was so content on a beautiful summer evening. I removed the dying animal to the kitchen floor and I kicked the door open before the cab could pull to a stop started to call an emergency vet number stored in my cell at our destination, and within a minute Neutron was phone, with the land line in my other hand to call a cab. receiving emergency care. Out the window, I saw that the coyotes had returned. When I got home at 4 a.m., I searched the back Again I tore out and ran full speed at them. By this time, alleys for Donovan, but he hid until well past daybreak. I the coyotes had learned I was no threat. They moved just came back inside and called the police. At first, the 911 fast enough to keep ahead of me. A third of the way operator treated me like I was the criminal. Why would I down the block, the larger one whirled around and froze, wait over 3 hours to report aggressive coyotes? Then he facing me down from no more than 6 or 7 feet. If I hadn’t gave me the choice of “Co-existing with Coyotes” or the screeched to a stop, I would have slammed into it. We B.C. 24-hour Wildlife-Human Conflict Call Centre. I had 74 already figured out in the conversation years ago that Project” now two decades running. “Co-existing with Coyotes” were not “cat people”, so I In 1994, when coyotes were still new to Vancouver, took the other number. the (then) Ministry of Environment, Fish and Wildlife The provincial call centre operator told me that I was Branch said its staff would “respond to situations where wrong to suggest the coyotes were aggressive toward me, there is a threat to human safety, but they are not prepared that they were “just looking for their cat”. I called again to deal with nuisance calls” (City of Vancouver 1994b). the next day. The new operator told me he had been sur- Since that time, there has been a “dramatic increase in prised by the number of complaints received since spring conflicts of all kinds [reflecting] the growth in the human from the Commercial Drive area, and almost seemed population, the growing interest in and access to the apologetic about his co-worker’s cat comment. He said outdoors and the growth of some wildlife populations he would have Conservation Officer Mike Peters contact adjacent to or within communities” (MWLAP 2003:4). me. Later, Peters confirmed that by B.C. standards, the The first two causes for rising conflicts are likely coyotes indeed were not aggressive. The example he marginal compared to the last. This author could find no gave was of a coyote that snatched a cat off its owner’s recent data for British Columbia or Canada, but the U.S. lap in a private yard in daylight hours, bumping away the trend shows people spending less, not more time gentleman’s hand in the process; this was considered no outdoors, with the tourism industry constantly fighting to more than a “nuisance” animal. Peters said the recoup losses to things like video games and indoor Conservation Officer Service spends most of its time in fitness (Outdoor Industry Foundation 2006). North Vancouver dealing with bears, that there had not The human “population explosion” is also been a new conservation officer job posting in years, that exaggerated. Canadian environmentalist / population the service would have no problem removing coyotes but control advocate Dr. David Suzuki is father of 5, but few it would be an “uphill battle” getting the public to agree to westerners follow his example. Canada has a population it, and that “Robert Boelens knows more about coyotes growth rate of only 0.83%, similar to the United States than we do” (M.