Straight Talk

Animal lawyer Rebeka Breder says Vancouver doesn't have a coyote problem, it has a human problem

She told CKNW Radio host Charles Adler that B.C. conservation officers should be ticketing people through the roof if they leave out food for wild animals

by Charlie Smith on July 15th, 2021 at 8:18 AM
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      The Twittersphere has no shortage of voices cheering the killing of coyotes in Stanley Park.

      They've become shriller in the wake of a coyote biting a toddler, who's expected to make a full recovery.

      Several other people have been bitten in recent weeks in Vancouver's premier tourist attraction by coyotes that have lost their fear of humans.

      But last night on CKNW Radio, host Charles Adler presented a dissenting opinion from Rebeka Breder, a Vancouver animal-law expert who sometimes contributes columns to Straight.com.

      "It's not a coyote problem," Breder insisted to Adler. "It's a human problem.

      "Why the heck are people continuing to feed wildlife and attract coyotes and other animals as well," she continued. "And then it's coyotes who take the blame and ultimately pay  the ultimate price with their life."

      Breder questioned how B.C. conservation officers knew that two coyotes that they killed earlier this year were actually the culprits who had bitten people.

      And she informed Adler that the City of Vancouver doesn't even have any bylaws against people feeding wildlife.

      Instead of B.C. conservation officers taking out their guns, Breder suggested that they should use their powers under the Wildlife Act to ticket human offenders "through the roof" for feeding wild animals.

      "Fundamentally, we need to have a complete shift in our perspective with the way we view wildlife," Breder told Adler. "We have to remember that wildlife is here to stay. They should be here to stay.

      "We share our environment with them. We are extremely lucky in this beautiful British Columbia to have such an array of wildlife that we share this province with. And we have to recognize that wildlife and humans share the same environment and share the same location.”

      The Vancouver park board has closed the northwest corner of Stanley Park as B.C. Conservation Officer Service staff are searching for the animal or animals responsible for biting people.

      Earlier this month, three people were bitten by a coyote in one day near Prospect Point, including a jogger and a person doing yoga.

      Update

      Shortly after this article was posted, the B.C. Conservation Officer Service tweeted that it killed four coyotes on the evening of July 14 and in the early-morning hours on July 15.

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