Dozens of people have been attacked by coyotes in Stanley Park in Vancouver, British Columbia, since December 2020. Most recently, between August 10 to August 13, three individuals received bites from coyotes in the evening. The first attack happened to a five-year-old. The toddler and his family had been walking in Prospect Point around 9:30pm on August 10. They were on vacation and had not seen any signage about the increased coyote activity. 

“A coyote came dodging out of the path and jumped my little guy, took him to the ground and bit his leg,” recalled the toddler’s mother. The coyote left, then came back almost instantly. “At that point, my adrenaline hit and I chased the (coyote), threw rocks at him and screamed at him,” she said.

The second attack happened to a female jogger along the Bridal Path. This was around 7 p.m. on August 11. Again, the jogger received a bite on the leg similar to the previous victim. The coyote reportedly ran up beside the jogger, bit her leg, and ran off again. 

Finally, the third attack took place near Pitch and Putt Golf Course in Stanley Park at 9 p.m. on August 13. According to officials, once again, the victim had been walking alone, was bit by the coyote in the leg, and then the coyote ran off. All three victims received minor injuries and will make a full recovery. 

Increase in Attacks

These recent string of attacks have left the public scared and experts concerned as to why the coyotes are acting outside of their usual behavior. Shelley Alexander is a coyote expert from the University of Calgary. She spoke with local news reporters about the several different factors that could have led to the recent attacks.

“The Stanley Park issue is more complicated than normal situations,” she said. “There’s always a constellation of events that lead to these … no one is the key cause here.”

Much of what is happening in Stanley Park is human feedings, or feeding conditioning. Almost all of the attacks happen in locations coyotes know they can get food, or areas where food is common and easily accessible. 

“I looked at some of the maps and there’s displacement of coyotes from their normal area of living by the homeless encampments,” Alexander said. “These animals have now been pushed into fringe areas where they’re more in contact with people and more likely to get into conflict. The behaviour of some of these individuals suggest they’ve ingested toxins or drugs, possibly opioids. There’s also some indication of possible abuse of these animals.

“This is abnormal behaviour that we’re seeing but the key thing is here they’ve lost their bite inhibition,” Alexander continued. “So this is no longer a situation that you could consider a co-existence scenario. The challenge here with this situation is that we’re really not sure of the history of these individuals and some of the behaviour is erratic.”

Next Steps

Conservation officers have been trapping coyotes in the area the past couple of weeks. They looked for any matches of coyotes the victims gave them. For public safety, officers euthanized any coyotes matching the victims’ description. They released non-matching coyotes back into the park. No autopsy reports have been released to the public. It is unknown whether the coyotes were consuming opioids or any type of drugs or not. 

But for the area to return to its previous hospitality, Alexander suggests the homeless camp and their opioid use be handled first. Beyond that, coyotes must become less dependent on human interaction and food conditioning. For more information on coyotes, the Canadian government suggests checking out their page for facts and frequently asked questions. 

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