Rogue coyote traps being set in Riverside Park South

Residents in the Riverside Park South neighbourhood are worried about unauthorized coyote traps being set. The City of Ottawa removed its traps earlier this month and it appears someone is setting up their own.

Hunt Club East resident Michelle Briere walks her dog in McCarthy Woods almost every day. She says she’s worried the traps might hurt her dog.

“I think it's pretty irresponsible to have these traps out in the forest, especially if they're not announced,” says Briere. “I would say probably 90 per cent of the people who come into this forest walk their dogs off leash and there's always young children running around as well. So I'm quite concerned that someone's dog or child is going to end up getting hurt.”

The City of Ottawa temporarily set traps in this area to catch coyotes and three coyotes were euthanized. However, the city traps were removed Nov. 4.

“Since then, someone has gone into the same area and set up neck snares,” says city councillor for the area Riley Brockington, “which are not authorized, which are not from the City of Ottawa, are not from the NCC.”

Brockington says the city believes someone is trying to take matters into their own hands.

Lesley Sampson of Coyote Watch Canada says she was told the rogue neck snares were actually authorized to be there. But neither the city, nor the NCC say they have deployed these traps.

Sampson wanted to help the coyote stuck in the snare, but says she couldn’t.

“To interfere with that snare, we would have been breaking the law,” says Sampson. “I spoke with not only the provincial government and the federal government—so the Ministry of Northern Development, Mines, Natural Resources conservation officer and a Conservation Officer from the NCC. I was told explicitly that that snare was a legally set snare.”

In a statement Ottawa Bylaw director Roger Chapman confirmed in a statement to CTV News that Bylaw and its partners are currently not engaged in any trapping operations in the area.

An email from Ottawa Bylaw that Brockington showed to CTV News, dated Dec. 2, says the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry has been in touch for the purposes of investigating unauthorized traps, which had been encountered and removed. It also said Ottawa Bylaw would not use nor condone the use of neck snares. 

Some residents, even those with pets, feel the coyotes should be left alone and say they haven’t been notified about any traps.

“For me, it's to learn to live with nature,” says Riverview Park resident Andrea Petersen. “We don't know who set them so we're making the assumption that it's people doing it on their own. And especially when they say there's a coyote with one on its left paw, like, where did that trap come from?”

Michelle Briere justs want to be able to enjoy nature with her dog Otis and without the risk of injury.

“Personally, I feel like trapping and euthanizing these coyotes is not an effective long-term solution,” says Briere, “nor is it the responsible or ethical thing to do.”