With rising coyote-human conflicts and even a young Canadian
woman killed by coyotes in the last year, researchers are taking
a closer look at the predator. The Eastern coyote is of even
more interest as they are not native to the area and tend to be
larger than their Western counterparts. The biologist, Diana
Prince, has been tagging coyotes with GPS trackers, watching
their activity and determining where and why coyotes come into
human territory. “Why were we seeing more coyotes? People were
the reason,” she says. And she is now working to educate those
people and get them to stop feeding coyotes, eliminate the food
source that attracted them and even shoot them or trap them if
they become a problem. “Keeping the fear of humans in coyotes is
the way to ensure they stay in their own space.” While it’s been
a tough sell for some nature lovers that enjoyed seeing coyotes
in their yards, Prince tells them it’s better for the coyotes in
the end too. The story of the demise of one pack Prince tracked
is evidence.