---  Coyotes in Aylmer

 

Coyotes are once again hunting in Aylmer's residential areas, like my backyard! About 12 years ago they seemed to be making themselves at home in our back yards and expanding their prey from mostly  rodents to geese, groundhogs, rabbits, turkeys, fawns and the odd pet. In 2009 14 coyote carcasses were found in an Aylmer "ravine off Baille Road, near Breckenridge Creek, which drains into the Ottawa River. The coyotes were all shot to death." (Ottawa CTV News)

The hunter appears to have removed 2 or 3 family groups and changed the dynamic. Groundhogs, deer and turkeys recovered, the rabbits have not, and I can't speak to the pets. Coyotes are opportunistic omnivores and need 2-5 square miles territory. Other family groups likely never left the area but stayed in the forested corridors between the Ottawa River and James Bay. With the rapid removal of forest corridors in Aylmer by huge developments, like Quartier de l’Ambassade Champlain, coyote habitat is lost forever and they seem to have once again moved into our yards.

Coyotes now thrive in almost all urban areas of North America. Coyotes are naturally afraid of humans, but as they get used to living with humans they grow less and less fearful, and can become aggressive. The slaughter of these animals will not see their end. We must learn to live with them. https://www.spca.com/en/top-ten-questions-about-coyotes/

Ron Temchuk

Aylmer