Item - 2025.EC20.4

The Economic and Community Development Committee: 

1. Requested the Executive Director, Customer Experience, in consultation with the Executive Director, Municipal Licensing and Standards to consider:

a. developing a new service request sub-type for 311 reports related to feeding wildlife, specific to coyotes; and

b. expanding definition of the “Coyote Posing Threat To Public Safety” 311 service request description to include specific behaviours such as stalking, snarling or other observed aggressive behaviours.
 

2. Requested the Executive Director, Municipal Licensing and Standards to:

a. in consultation with relevant Divisions, review proactive measures that can be undertaken to manage food and wildlife feeding sources from waste and other sources;

b. in consultation with the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority, the Ministry of Natural Resources, or other municipalities, consider the feasibility of incorporating a reproductive control approach for coyotes in Ward 10, as an outcome of the loss of habitat;
 

c. in consultation with the Chief Communications Officer, create reliable and responsive channels for public and stakeholder updates related to coyote incidents and response.
 

3. Requested the Executive Director, Municipal Licensing and Standards, as part of the planned report on the Coyote Response Strategy, to:

a. explore what additional preventative measures can be implemented to deter coyotes downtown and across the city where these issues occur, including resources required for a dedicated wildlife staff team;
 

b. provide thresholds and estimated ranges of time for escalation protocols on the City of Toronto’s response to coyote incidents in downtown communities as part of the Human-Coyote Incident Classification and Response Framework; 
 

c. establish a more pet-friendly approach as part of efforts to minimize interactions with wildlife including engaging trainers and experts in pet care, pet safety and/or pet owner support;
 

d. make recommendations that support higher set fines specific to coyotes for feeding wildlife as per 349-10.1; 
 

e. make further recommendations that build on the previous request to the Province of Ontario, by identifying additional requests to the Province to support the City’s efforts in responding to coyotes; and

f. report back on the above items and implementation of the Downtown Coyote Action Plan as part of the upcoming report on the updated city-wide Coyote Response Strategy in the third quarter of 2025.

Since November 2024, there have been an increasing number of coyote sightings, issues, and incidents in the Liberty Village and Fort York communities of Toronto (“downtown communities”).

Coyotes have lived in the downtown area for many years. However, conflicts have increased recently due to several factors, including a high density of humans and domestic dogs, lack of per-capita green space compared to other City neighbourhoods, sparse foliage, increase in the number of construction and redevelopment projects (including Ontario Place), the presence of rail corridors (which generally enable coyotes to move about out of human sight), and the availability of food (with some intentionally left for wildlife). Discarded food can also attract rats, which in turn draws in coyotes as they feed on rodents.

The City is actively managing the situation in Toronto’s downtown communities. In response to City Council direction (2025.EC18.8), staff are using this opportunity to communicate best practices for coyote management and lessons learned from actions in downtown communities and have developed a Downtown Coyote Action Plan (Attachment 1 to this report) to guide future responses in the area. This staff report recommends that the Economic and Community Development Committee receive the Downtown Coyote Action Plan for information. This report also provides information on wildlife regulations and municipal authority, an assessment of options to manage coyote activity, reviews best practices in other jurisdictions, and provides information on tools and technology to support diversion.

The Downtown Coyote Action Plan will also be used to inform broader updates to the City of Toronto’s 2013 Coyote Response Strategy (“the Strategy”), which will be brought to the Economic and Community Development Committee for endorsement later in 2025. This will provide a City-wide update on the City’s coyote response approach, as requested by Council (2024.EC16.10).

When staff are responding to coyote reports, they follow an operational approach consistent with the 2013 Strategy. This entails conducting investigations, providing public education, carrying out habitat modification, applying aversion conditioning (i.e. utilizing behavioural techniques used to reinforce the low tolerance of wildlife for humans) on coyotes encountered, and continually assessing the efficacy of response options. Public participation in coexistence programs is crucial to meeting the common objective of maintaining safe boundaries between humans and wildlife. Staff have identified the need for collective effort in managing wildlife concerns, with plans to address this through intensive public education.

This report was prepared in consultation with Engineering and Construction Services and Legal Services.