Montreal, December 11, 2018 – The Society for the Protection of Animals Canada (SPA Canada) is pleasantly surprised by the announced plan to manage coyotes in Montreal which is in fact the first such plan for dealing with coyotes in urban areas created in Quebec. Rather than choosing cruel methods such as extermination and relocation, the city has opted to respectfully cohabitate with coyotes, which are seen more frequently in certain areas of the city.
"Non-human animals are part of cities’ biodiversity and must be recognised and considered as part of the population," thinks Dominique Routhier, Animal Biologist for SPA Canada. We are living in a time of growing appreciation for non-human animal species, and the management plan is an example of this positive change. Taking the time to analyze the situation and find innovative ways of tackling the issue to prioritize cohabitation should be systematically implemented, moving forward. "Taking rash, draconian measures which had grave consequences for pitbull owners, like the ones applied by the former mayor of Montreal, Denis Coderre, to manage the problem of dangerous dogs is totally irrational and ill-advised."
The methods underway to ensure the coyote's safe coexistence, such as public awareness and availability of a web form to report sightings of a coyote or the Info-coyote hotline, improved garbage disposal, establishing special teams to visit designated sectors to try to change the coyotes' behaviour and discourage them from approaching humans and compiling information received from the public to better understand the behaviour and movements of the coyotes in the city in order to better manage their presence strike us as effective, sustainable and admirable measures.
Incidentally, it is important to remember that coyotes primarily eat small rodents such as rats and mice, thereby helping control the invasive populations of these often unwanted small rodents.
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