Coyotes are ubiquitous in the Lower Mainland and Langley is no exception, meaning residents can expect to encounter them at any time of day.
Resident Vera Walker told the Langley Advance Times she spotted coyotes on several occasions while walking her dogs through the hay fields near 200th Street and 16th Avenue.
“We were just walking on the upper part of the field and this coyote just chased us… I mean came out into the open,” she said.
However, B.C. conservation officer Jack Trudgian said there is no public safety concern.
“Coyotes, especially the urban coyotes, they’re not very scared of people and what they’ll do is come up to people or follow people because they think they’re going to get fed by them,” Trudgian said. “It’s not a threat to yourself, [but] it could be a threat to your dogs or your smaller livestock.”
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Trudgian said its important for people to keep their pets on short leashes and to secure their livestock at night, but should you cross paths with a coyote he recommends making a lot of noise.
“We would like people, when they see coyotes, to scare them away so then they might take it as a threat,” he said. “You never want to run from a wild animal.”
Coyotes can be spotted year-round, and Trudgian said it’s not at all surprising to see them in around farm land.
“They like the hay fields especially after somebody hays their field because there are lot mice jumping around,” he said.
To learn more about the animal, Trudgian recommends people visit Co-Existing with Coyotes online at www.stanleyparkecology.ca/conservation/co-existing-with-coyotes/.
The program coordinated by the Stanley Park Ecology Society “aims to reduce conflict between people, pets and coyotes.”
The website allows people to report a coyote sighting to help the program track their behaviour, and it also gives tips on how to “co-exist” with the animal.
joti.grewal@blackpress.ca
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