The City of Toronto has hired non-profit organization Coyote Watch Canada and a company called Critter Gitter to assist with the ongoing problems with coyote encounters in the areas of Liberty Village and Fort York.
Coyote Watch Canada is a volunteer-run non-profit “that advocates positive human-wildlife coexistence with a focus on canids.”
CityNews has asked the City to clarify the identity and nature of the work Critter Gritter carries out and is awaiting a response.
The two organizations were hired based on the recommendations of the seven-member Downtown Coyote Response Expert Panel — which the City says is an “independent, third-party panel with decades of combined experience in coyote management, biology and animal behaviour.” They were convened as part of a proposed Downtown Coyote Action Plan.
Critter Gitter and Coyote Watch Canada will “engage in specialized aversion activities in the Liberty Village and Fort York areas. Both consult on wild canid issues throughout North America,” said the City’s Senior Communications Coordinator, Shane Gerard.
The City made public the plan to hire the companies on March 18, with Executive Director of Municipal Licensing and Standards, Carleton Grant, admitting that he did not know such service providers existed. At the time he said both the City and province’s procurement department did not have any vendors of record that fit the bill.
“However, the seven members of the expert panel have worked with these companies before and will be providing us with a list of companies for us to choose someone who’s available immediately and has the resources and numbers to do what’s required,” he said at a press conference two weeks ago.
The organizations have already begun working in the neighbourhoods and were deployed on March 23.
“The scope of this work includes assessing the coyotes (their habitat and food sources) and providing aversion engagement based on that assessment. The companies will also be reviewing the area for additional contributing factors to help address concerns being experienced by the community,” said Gerard.
Liberty Village residents organization Coyote Safety Coaltion (CSC) said there have been 90 reported coyote attacks and four pet dogs have been killed as a result of those attacks since November, 2024.
Residents say they’ve been going to great lengths to follow all the City’s guidelines regarding hazing coyotes, have created real-time coyote encounter alert groups over online chat apps and taken to walking their dogs in pack to provide safety in numbers.
Ruby Kooner, co-founder of CSC, told CityNews since the two companies began their work, at least five additional attacks have taken place.
She added that the City has not directly informed them of this latest development and they only found out when CityNews contacted them for comment. They have also not seen any aversion teams in the neighbourhood.
“The City wants residents to trust a ‘shadow team’ they’ve deployed, yet there has been no visibility, no sightings and no communication — while the attacks continue, leaving the public feeling abandoned and at risk,” she said in a statement.
She added that CSC is asking the City to collaborate more directly with them to measure the effectiveness of the specialized aversion activities, regularly update the public on the progress and “communicate clear timelines and measurable goals for these assessments and interventions.”
When CityNews asked Grant at the March 18 press conference how long the specialized team will be given to achieve the desired results, he did not provide a definitive answer.
“Wildlife is very complex. It is very challenging to put a timeline on it. What I can commit to you is that we will be looking at data daily, weekly, and if things continue in a certain escalation, we will make the decision we need to make. I can’t say we’ll get back to you in two weeks and then we’re going to make the decision,” he said at the time.
A CSC petition to urge the city to relocate the coyotes has garnered more than 1,000 signatures so far, as area residents continue to demand definitive solutions rather than what they call “ineffective strategies” based on “pseudo-science.”
Another petition started by a Liberty Village resident titled “Protect the Liberty Village Coyotes in Toronto” has close to 690 signatures.
“Adding animal proof bins, expanding Animal Services to 24/7, education about the feeding ban, enforcing leash laws, fixing holes, building dog parks, and helping coyotes see dogs as neutral instead of a threat will change things,” reads the petition, detailing actions in line with the City’s current approach.
CSC has said in the past that these methods are not working because the coyotes in the area have become habituated to humans and are no longer afraid of them. They feel Coyote Watch Canada and their advice to the city seems to prioritize the safety of the coyotes over area residents.
“Many residents are now considering moving, as they’ve been forced to stop walking their dogs in the area — a lifestyle change that feels neither sustainable nor acceptable,” said Kooner.
Spadina-Fort York councillor and Deputy Mayor Ausma Malik has said the City will continue working with residents and experts to find a suitable solution to a problem she said was caused by developments at Ontario Place and subsequent loss of wildlife habitat.
“I am heartbroken at the harm that has caused to pets and the concern to residents around this,” she said at the March 18 press conference.
“I am taking that with seriousness and [hiring aversion companies] is a next escalation of that.”
