COS 20-4 - CANCELLED - Proactive use of intensive aversive conditioning increases likelihood of retreat by coyotes

Monday, August 15, 2022

2:15 PM – 2:30 PM EDT

Location: 518C

Presenting Author(s)

GL

Gabrielle Lajeunesse

M.Sc. Student
University of Alberta
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

Coauthor(s)

ES

Eric W. Smith

University of Alberta
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
HH

Howard W. Harshaw

University of Alberta
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
CS

Colleen C. St. Clair

University of Alberta
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

Background/Question/Methods

Over the past decade, coyotes (Canis latrans) have shown increasingly bold behavior towards people and their pets. Although attacks on people remain rare, many residents have expressed concern about the presence of bold coyotes in their neighborhoods. Bold behavior by wildlife might be reduced by aversive conditioning (AC) which is recommended for coyotes by many authors, but few studies have tested this approach. In this study, we report the implementation and preliminary results of a high-intensity AC program delivered by contractors in Calgary, Alberta. Our specific objectives were to describe the implementation of Calgary’s program and evaluate the effectiveness of the program via coyote behavior as assessed by contractors and changes in public reporting of coyotes. Contractors implemented the program by surveying areas with reports of bold coyotes and recorded whether or not coyotes were found, and, if so, whether they treated coyotes using dogs and / or by firing chalk balls, and the responses of coyotes to their actions. Public reports of coyote sightings and encounters in the City of Calgary were collected from the City’s municipal monitoring database, and were coded based on the encounter characteristics. We used logistic and zero-inflated negative binomial regressions to analyze the data.

Results/Conclusions

Between May 2018 and July 2021, a total of 765 AC events were conducted by contractors and 826 reports of coyote activity were submitted to the civic call center in 72 parks in the City of Calgary. Most coyotes (82%) retreated quickly from an aversive conditioning event. The likelihood of coyote retreats declined with the presence of dogs and when shots were fired from a paintball gun, presumably because these tools were used only on the boldest coyotes. Retreat likelihood also declined with the number of coyote reports in the previous four weeks, but increased with the number of previous aversive conditioning events at the site and when more intense aversive conditioning treatments had been applied prior to the event being investigated, suggesting coyotes learned to avoid contractors. Aversive conditioning had no impact on the likelihood of observation-type reports relative to conflict-type reports or on the number of coyote reports per week. Together, our results suggest that repeated application of AC can reduce coyote boldness (as measured by animal retreats and public reports) over time, particularly if it is employed before coyotes develop bold behavior, but may be contingent on associated stimuli such as the visual cues associated with contractors.