He said coyotes don’t usually pose an immediate threat to homeowners because they tend to keep to themselves, but people should take precautions around their homes to prevent them from coming near.
“Don’t feed them,” he said. “One hand-fed coyote is not a good practice.”
Boudreau said it’s also important for people to properly store their garbage and compost and keep their pets on a leash, especially at night.
“Food draws them from one area to another,” he said, adding that they can travel as much as 20 kilometres a day. He said if someone comes across a coyote in their yard, they should yell or make a loud noise to scare it away.
“The worst thing you can do is make it comfortable enough to stay,” he said.
Boudreau said so far it has been a quiet year for coyote sightings, but there have been a few spotted near school yards in the province.
He said it’s difficult to get an exact count on the number of coyotes because that relies on sightings from trappers. However, he said, statistics indicate that their numbers have been slightly increasing in the province during the past few years.
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