Spike in Vancouver coyote aggression due to human habituation, study finds

People living near Vancouver’s largest urban park during the COVID-19 pandemic could have been forgiven for thinking the wild canines nearby were harbouring a grudge.

Between December 2020 and August 2021, a total of 45 coyote attacks against humans took place in Stanley Park, a spike so alarming that it led the B.C. Ministry of Forests and the B.C. Conservation Officer Service to authorize a cull of 11 animals.

But, as zoology doctoral candidate Nathan Lewis points out, instances of coyotes causing bodily harm to people are usually few and far between.

“Coyote attacks are unbelievably rare,” he told CBC News.

“This spike … was the most unprecedented, most dense collection of coyote attacks on humans that has ever been reported, that I’m aware of.

“It’s approximately one every six days, which is an incredibly high rate of attacks to be happening in such a small area.”

Since 2023, Lewis and his team of researchers at the University of British Columbia have been investigating why Stanley Park became such a hotspot of coyote aggression.

Their findings, published in the scientific journal Animal Behaviour this week, point the finger at COVID lockdowns.

“When people were not allowed to go to social events inside, a lot more people were going to the park, and that was associated with an increase in aggression,” Lewis said.

“These coyotes had become highly habituated to people, which meant that over time, they didn’t feel threatened by people in any of those encounters.”

Don’t feed wild dogs

Lewis said there was evidence that people fed coyotes more during the studied period, a practice banned under a 2024 bylaw which prohibits the feeding of any wild animal in Vancouver.

“This can lead to these coyotes associating humans with food and actually starting to approach people. Sometimes these encounters can turn aggressive,” he said.

In September 2021, just one day after a two-week culling operation wrapped up, conservation officers arrested two people who allegedly fed coyotes in Stanley Park.

Lesley Fox, from wildlife conservation group The Fur-Bearers, said the garbage cans in the park should be made wildlife-resistant. 

“Some of the garbage containers have been converted, others haven’t,” she said.

But the Vancouver Park Board’s environmental stewardship coordinator Dana McDonald said an experiment with “wildlife secure” garbage cans showed the existing infrastructure was adequate.

“We found that regular pickup of garbage and keeping garbage in the existing totes that are available throughout the city was adequate in terms of preventing coyotes and other wildlife from accessing garbage,” she said.

“If folks are reporting through 311 … if you see someone feeding wildlife and that goes to our rangers, they’ll respond when they get the calls.”

Education and enforcement

The UBC study also found that coyotes defended their pups more aggressively the more habituated they became, with attacks more likely near den sites.

Lewis said solo runners were among the people most at risk, while those on bicycles or in groups were less likely to be disturbed.

One of the study’s recommendations to improve public safety was to keep visitors “away from known den sites when possible, regardless of season, to reduce the probability of defensive aggression.”

It also said people “should be informed that they are at elevated risk of aggressive encounters if they are running, alone or recreating during hours of relatively low human activity.”

Proper signage is something Fox wants to see, too.

“A lot of the signs, unfortunately, get vandalized and so they need to be replaced,” she said.

“They need to be updated, put in locations that are more difficult for people to vandalize, and any kind of advertising or sign should be available in multiple languages.”

Fox said the government needed to get serious about enforcement of its bylaws to ensure a cull was not required again.

“We can’t kill our way out of so-called wildlife conflict,” she said.

“We know that education coupled with enforcement is what creates coexistence.”