I’ve heard from many residents about an increase in coyote sightings on the golf course lands. The City’s Wildlife Resource Coordinator, Dom Ferland, visited the golf course with a member of Coyote Watch Canada. He shared their observations which I wanted to pass along:
I was out on the golf course with a member of Coyote Watch Canada. We took a tour of the course, focusing on areas we received the most reports from. Below are our findings:
- As expected, the golf course offers good coyote habitat. The forested areas and brushy fringes are good denning/resting areas.
- There is a good prey base present. We noted a lot of squirrels, in particular.
- Coyotes are present and occupying the territory. We found scat on the paths in several places, which is a form of territorial marking.
- The adjacent yards are well kept. We did not notice major problems with attractants, such as garbage, bird feeders or active feeding of wildlife.
- Many backyards are unfenced and open onto the golf course. There are no barriers so coyotes can drift into these back yards unhindered.
- There are open garbage cans along the golf course. They were filled with empty cans, so they do not offer access to food to coyotes.
- Residents walk their dogs on the course after hours, many of them off leash.
Our summary of the situation is that coyotes are using the habitat and occupying the territory while avoiding conflict. Sometimes they will drift into an open back yard. This is consistent with the reports we’ve received from the area. We have not received any reports of concerning behaviour from coyotes. The reports have been from residents who perceive a threat from the mere presence of coyotes nearby, sometimes in their yards.
The one significant opportunity for conflict we noted on the golf course are the off-leash dogs. What can and does happen is off-leash dogs will chase a coyote back to their family or barge onto a den site. In these instances, coyotes can attack dogs defensively. This is ultimately the dog owners’ responsibility – not Kanata G&CC – but it can cause quite a bit of unrest in the community when it does happen. I’m flagging it with you for your awareness. Otherwise, there are few other opportunities for conflict since coyotes don’t have access to human food. The exception to that could be the open garbage cans, in the event someone throws out food waste in them. I imagine this happens from time to time but it does not appear to be a major problem.