Protesters hold vigil for Stanley Park coyotes, demand end to cull

Vancouver -

A small group of protesters held a vigil for Stanley Park coyotes Wednesday while calling for an end to the B.C. government's culling effort.

The group gathered outside the Vancouver Park Board office sporting traps, signs and a megaphone, slamming officials for failing to adequately address the alarming series of coyote attacks on park visitors that began late last year.

"It shouldn't have gotten to this point," said protester Sarah Blyth. "They should have shut down the park and let the experts in to figure out what was going on."

Instead, the Ministry of Forests sent in contractors last week to trap and kill as many coyotes as possible. As of Tuesday, four of the animals had been euthanized during the culling effort, which is expected to last another week.

Conservation officers previously killed six Stanley Park coyotes hoping to curb the number of conflicts, but the attacks persisted.

Blyth, who used to chair the Vancouver Park Board, said commissioners have a responsibility to manage Stanley Park, and that they failed to address the root of the problem as it continued for months.

The prevailing theory of what prompted the attacks is that the animals were fed by park visitors, or otherwise became habituated to humans.

"It's a really sad situation," said Blyth. "I think people should really feel ashamed that this has happened."

There have been dozens of attacks reported in the park, including five that injured children. Blyth called those incidents "terrible," but criticized officials for prioritizing keeping the park open over a longer disruption that might have prevented the need for a cull.

The Ministry of Forests has said the decision to kill the coyotes was not taken lightly, and only came after "considerable effort into finding other alternatives."

"Given the habituated nature of these coyotes, relocation is not an option," the ministry said in a statement Tuesday. "As well, coyotes are highly territorial and would be in direct conflict with whatever local population they were introduced to."

In response to Wednesday's vigil, the Vancouver Park Board issued a statement supporting the B.C. government's decision, calling the circumstances leading up to the cull and the public safety risk posed by the coyotes "extraordinary."

"No one involved in this last resort response wanted to see the lethal removal of animals from the park," it said.

"The park board will continue to manage trial closures for as long as required, install wildlife-proof bins to encourage correct disposal of garbage, post additional signage and educate the public on the importance of not feeding animals in an effort to achieve long-term co-existence with wildlife within the park and avoid this situation from ever arising again."

With files from CTV News Vancouver's Regan Hasegawa