What to do if you see a coyote in Winnipeg
A walk through South Osborne went from peaceful to startling earlier this week for a Winnipeg woman, who observed a coyote in the area.
“We were warned by another dog owner, who had a larger dog, that they had seen a coyote,” said Heather Stuart.
Stuart was out for a walk around 6:30 p.m. Monday with her friend, who brought along her small dogs. The two finished their walk faster than normal that night.
When they got back to the car, they drove around out of curiosity to see if the coyote was still in the area. Within a few minutes, they spotted it.
“Our reaction was (to) turn on the brights. We had a few toys in the car. We tried squeaking [them to make] noise,” said Stuart. “We were probably less than five metres away in the vehicle. So, yeah, kind of alarming.”
Stuart said within the last 10 days, she saw two notices online of coyotes in the area.
”Which seemed a little bit different than previous years. I don’t remember ever hearing about them that often,” Stuart said.
Coyotes were also recently spotted near a school in the Linden Woods area.
The province said in terms of coyote reports, it’s been a fairly normal year so far.
“In general, in the City of Winnipeg, we get about 60 to 70 reports of interactions between people and coyotes annually, and we haven’t seen a significant increase in the number we’re getting as of yet,” said Janine Wilmot, a human-wildlife coexistence biologist with the province.
However, Wilmot noted coyotes have adapted to living in urban areas throughout North America. While it’s not as common to see them in highly developed areas, Wilmot said it is possible, more so around dusk and dawn.
“Make sure you give the animal its space. You don’t want to approach it, you don’t want to crowd it,” said Wilmot.
“If you have kids or small pets with you, [it’s] really good to pick those up because you don’t know how they’re going to respond to the situation. You don’t want them starting to run because a run can trigger a chase response in a coyote.”
In the meantime, Stuart and her friend will be taking precautions when going for their walks.
“Definitely. I think until we, or maybe even just herself, feel a bit more comfortable, we’d be doing it more in the daylight,” said Stuart. “Maybe not at dusk.”
Wilmot said you don’t need to report every time you see a coyote, only if it is deliberately approaching you, causing damage to property, or injuring someone’s animal.
She said to better coexist with coyotes, and to keep them away from your property, you should make sure to secure any garbage or compost so a coyote can’t get into it, feed your pets inside to avoid any trace of food, and clean up any mess left behind from a bird feeder.
If you do have an encounter with a coyote within Winnipeg, you can call 204-945-5221 to report the incident.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
'They needed people inside Air Canada:' Police announce arrests in Pearson gold heist
Police say one former and one current employee of Air Canada are among the nine suspects that are facing charges in connection with the gold heist at Pearson International Airport last year.
Why drivers in Eastern Canada could see big gas price spikes, and other Canadians won't
Drivers in Eastern Canada face a big increase in gas prices because of various factors, especially the higher cost of the summer blend, industry analysts say.
Customers disappointed after email listing $60K Tim Hortons prize sent in error
Several Tim Horton’s customers are feeling great disappointment after being told by the company that an email stating they won a boat worth nearly $60,000 was sent in error.
Toronto Raptors player Jontay Porter banned from NBA
Toronto Raptors player Jontay Porter has been handed a lifetime ban from The National Basketball Association (NBA) following an investigation which found he disclosed confidential information to sports bettors, the league says.
House admonishes ArriveCan contractor in rare parliamentary show of power
MPs enacted an extraordinary, rarely used parliamentary power on Wednesday, summonsing an ArriveCan contractor to appear before the House of Commons where he was admonished publicly and forced to provide answers to the questions MPs said he'd previously evaded.
Woman who pressured boyfriend to kill his ex in 2000s granted absences from prison
A woman who pressured her boyfriend into killing his teenage ex more than a decade ago will be allowed to leave prison for weeks at a time.
Attempt to have murder charge quashed against alleged serial killer dismissed by judge
A motion filed by the man accused of killing four Indigenous women in Winnipeg to have one of those murder charges quashed has been dismissed by the judge – weeks before the start of his trial.
Government proposes new policy for federally regulated employees to disconnect from work
In their 2024 budget, the federal government wants to amend the Canada Labour Code, so employers in federally regulated sectors will eliminate work-related communication with employees outside of scheduled hours. If implemented, this would affect roughly 500,000 employees across the country.
Earthquake jolts southern Japan
An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.4 hit southern Japan late on Wednesday, said the Japan Meteorological Agency, without issuing a tsunami warning.