This is an active time of the year for coyotes and more people in Delta happen to be at home to take notice.
That’s the opinion of Delta Community Animal Shelter Manager Ryan Voutilainen as he assures there is nothing unusual about coyotes’ activity or behavior in the area.
“I just think there are more people at home to be honest because of COVID,” he said. “People are noticing it because coyotes are not as active during the day normally and they tend to shy away from people. They are more like a dusk and overnight type creature.
“But now that people are all at home and inside their homes guess what they are seeing? You are seeing them out during the daytime right now as this is the time of season where they are meeting up with other coyotes so they can have young.”
Coyote awareness has been running high in recent weeks due to attacks on early evening joggers at Stanley Park in Vancouver. The Delta Animal Shelter has received some recent calls on sightings, but Voutilainen says that is perfectly normal.
“We are hearing reports of them down in Tsawwassen, but really they are everywhere in Delta and everywhere in the Lower Mainland. They are just as prevalent as raccoons or birds. They are out there and it’s just a matter of people knowing what to do and how to make sure they are not use to humans for food and that sort of things," he said. “In Delta we are lucky we don’t have to deal with bears so much, but it’s the same type of scenario, making sure your garbage is in a secure container and it’s not brought out until the morning of (collection). If they are approaching, it’s making any sort of loud noise to make yourself look bigger or threatening is what you want to do. Just yelling helps create that sort of distance.”
Voutilainen added owners of small dogs should be alert at off-leash parks like North 40 in East Ladner.
“Just pay attention if you are hearing vocalization from coyotes. If it’s that sort of thing, just be conscious of it if you have a smaller dog,” he said.
“They are generally going to avoid a place like North 40 where people go all the time and there’s lots of dogs off leash. Right now we are really in that critical time between January and the end of February where they tend to be more visible then they kind of ease up again.”
