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www.oakvillebeaver.com The Oakville Beaver, Friday February 2, 2007 - 3 Resurgence in urban sightings of coyotes By David Lea OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF The coyote population is bouncing back and sightings of the elusive animal in the Oakville area are becoming more frequent. Valley Drive resident Jennifer Bourdeau was cleaning up her kitchen Wednesday when she saw what she initially thought was a fox in Brook Valley Park located just behind her house. "I saw him from my window, he seems to be hanging out near my house," she said. On closer inspection Bourdeau realized that the FILE PHOTO BY BARRIE ERSKINE / OAKVILLE BEAVER THEY'RE BACK: Sightings of coyotes in Oakville urban Group suggests contest to name alternative title Continued from page 1 The youth alliance will be following-up with the CCTC to discuss the recommendations. The group suggested in its letter that a contest be held in high schools across the country to come up with an alternative title for Weedless Wednesday. The HYAA is comprised of 21 high school youth employed by Halton Region to support youth tobacco prevention efforts in the community. "It is of great value that we have the peer leaders on staff to assist us in making sure the health messages we are promoting are clear to all Halton residents includ- areas are becoming more frequent. animal was much larger than that's a coyote,'" said a fox. She described it as close Bourdeau. "He was kind of in size to her pet Rottweiler, wandering, I think he's just looking for a place to live or only more slender. "When I got to my gate I something." Oakville and District was like, `Oh, that's not a fox Humane Society officials say coyote sightings are becoming more frequent as the population recovers from a mange outbreak several years ago. ing youth," said Halton "We've actually had a couMedical Officer of Health Dr. ple of calls, once in the Bob Nosal. 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Bronte area and once not far down the road in the Maple Grove-Cornwall area," said Oakville and District Humane Society Manger of Animal Protective Services Colleen Gyergyai. "We had very few foxes or coyotes in the area, so now they're starting to build back up," she said. The sightings are causing some concerns among residents like Bourdeau who fear for small children, who play in places like Brook Valley Park. Gyergyai says such concerns are unnecessary. "They will look at you then turn around and go the other way. They don't have any interest in you and they're fairly shy." Bourdeau found this out first hand when she tried to get a picture of the animal. "As soon as he heard me coming down my walkway he ran away," she said. While humans are not at risk Gyergyai says pet owners may want to take some extra precautions with their dogs and cats. "Even if you let your little dog outside you should be monitoring that dog because coyotes' normal sources of food are mice, squirrels that sort of thing. We've had on occasion that they will go after a little dog or a cat," she said. Seeing a coyote in broad daylight is also not unusual behaviour as they do like to hunt in nice weather. "Certainly if they're sick or injured we should be notified and we do try and catch them," said Gyergyai. "Then we see if we can get them over to Toronto Wildlife for treatment." While rabies has been found in bats the disease has not been found in larger animals like coyotes in the Halton area for several years. Spot! Since 1952 Save 25% Bottle o removerf spot each ordwith er! LENNOX SALE $ 1000 FREE! GLENLEVEN CHRYSLER C H RYS L E R · J E E P · D O D G E Serving the community for 45 years! 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