{"id":24107,"date":"2019-06-28T11:42:39","date_gmt":"2019-06-28T15:42:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=24107"},"modified":"2019-06-28T11:42:47","modified_gmt":"2019-06-28T15:42:47","slug":"coyote-problems-increasing-on-auroras-west-side","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/coyote-problems-increasing-on-auroras-west-side\/","title":{"rendered":"Coyote problems increasing on Aurora\u2019s west side"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Brock Weir<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alyssa Perretta didn\u2019t expect to see anything unusual when she, accompanied by a friend, took her German Shepherd for a walk in the Henderson Drive area last week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But their ordinary\nMonday constitutional took an extraordinary turn when they stumbled across a\ncat\u2019s severed head lying in the grass \u2013 evidence, she says, of an increasing\nnumber of coyotes roaming hungrily through the neighbourhood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOnce\nwe got to the grass land, we noticed the most unnerving scene,\u201d said Ms.\nPerretta, 22. \u201cWe took a closer look and it seemed we stumbled onto a severed\ncat\u2019s head. This area is a very open and public space, not forest land. The\ncat\u2019s head was black with white fur down the middle of its head and towards the\nnose and mouth area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThen, upon scanning the area\nfurther we found a cat\u2019s front paw. This paw looked to belong to the same cat\nas it had white fur and black paddings on the bottom of the paw. There were no\nsigns of blood around the area, there was no smell to the body part, there was\nno sign of struggle or fur scattered around the scene. The head looked\ncompletely untouched. We also noticed a rabbit pelt and ripped off tail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe immediately contacted By Law\nAnimal Control because of the news that the OSPCA is no longer taking animal\nabuse cases. Our only choice was either call 911 or bylaw. Luckily, Bylaw came\nwithin 45 minutes of the call. The officer was lovely in personality and told us\nhow incidents like this have been reported all over Town. Stories about how\ndogs have been taken by coyotes, even large breeds such as a golden retriever.\nEverything from wildlife to family pets have been found in bad conditions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Bylaw officer stated he\ntruly thinks it is a coyote attack. Either way, it is a danger to the Town\u2019s\npets and children.The community needs to understand what is at risk and what is\ndangerous.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last week, The Auroran shared a\nstory about increased coyote presence on Aurora\u2019s east side, particularly in\nthe 2C development area adjacent to the Town\u2019s future wildlife park.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Area residents have reported a\nrise of increasingly brazen daylight coyote incidences and urged people to stay\nalert and safe. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the start of this month, the Town\nissued a notice about an increase in coyote sightings and interactions and\nurged residents to \u201cexercise caution\u201d and follow safety tips offered by the\nOntario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Make\nyour environment less attractive for coyotes:<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Never feed coyotes or\nother wildlife<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pick up your garbage.\nGarbage and litter attract wildlife.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Use motion sensor\nlights around your property.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What\nto do if you encounter a coyote:<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Keep your distance\nand the animal will most likely avoid you<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Never approach or\ntouch a wild animal<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do not turn your back\nor run<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Back away while\nremaining calm<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stand tall, wave your\nhands and make lots of noise<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Carry a flashlight at\nnight<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If the coyote poses\nan immediate threat or danger to public safety, call 911<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Keeping\nyour dogs safe:<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Keep dogs\ninside at night<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Always keep\nyour pets on a leash<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do not leave\nyour dog or pet food outside<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Clean up after\nyour dog \u2013 coyotes are attracted to dog waste<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Spay and neuter your pet \u2013 coyotes are attracted to\nanimals they can mate with<\/p>\n\r\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Alyssa Perretta didn\u2019t expect to see anything unusual when she, accompanied by a friend, took her German Shepherd for a walk in the Henderson Drive area last week.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24107","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-6gP","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-04 22:43:53","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24107","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24107"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24107\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24107"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24107"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24107"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}