The City of Leduc is hoping a new non-lethal control method will help growing concern over coyotes seen in the area.
Residents who live along Telford Lake told CTV News coyote sightings are a daily occurrence.
“One just kept following me for, oh God, from here to I don't know how far, back and forth and back and forth,” recalled a long-time resident Cathy.
“I just don't feel it's safe. They're getting too close to the people and they're not scared of us.”
The city told CTV News it is not uncommon for its office to hear public complaints about the animals, but that the volume can vary depending on the year’s population.
This year, the call volume has been higher.
“What makes it a little more concerning is if they are diseased animals—if they have a parasite mange, that type of thing—that will turn a coyote into a more aggressive animal,” explained Rick Sereda, the city’s director of public services.
“We have employed lethal methods in the past. In most cases, when we do employ lethal methods of control that’s when we have a significant safety concern. The coyotes have actually gone after citizens or animals.”
For now, Leduc has hired a professional wildlife control company to prevent encounters using a method called hazing. It entails Bill Abercrombie, with the help of his tracker dog, Wallace, tracing the paths around the lake and shooting seen coyotes with a clay ball.
“It just goes poof,” he explained. “It doesn't hurt them but it really gets their attention and actually this is accurate for quite a long distance.”
According to Abercrombie, hazing is used across Western Canada and can be an effective alternative to killing animals.
“The hazing and pushing coyotes back and making the urban environment not quite so attractive almost accomplishes the same thing as population reduction.”
The city started the program last Monday, and will continue testing it for another week.
With files from Nicole Weisberg
