Two programs for use of aversive conditioning to manage bold urban coyotes

• Author / Creator

  Lajeunesse, Gabrielle

• Human-coyote conflicts are increasing in urban areas, where reports of coyotes approaching, pursuing, or attacking pets and people have become more prevalent. Aversive conditioning is increasingly being advocated as a non-lethal method to reduce conflicts with bold coyotes, but it has not been much studied and there are few guidelines for its implementation. In this thesis, I quantified the responses by coyotes and public reporting to aversive conditioning as a management tool for bold, urban coyotes in each of two aversive conditioning programs conducted in Alberta, Canada, between 2018 and 2022. I first evaluated the use of high intensity aversive conditioning conducted by a team of contracted wildlife professionals and their trained dogs in the City of Calgary, Alberta, between 2018 and 2021. Aversive conditioning treatments consisted of using dogs to attract coyotes from cover and paintball guns to fire chalk balls at coyotes. Most (607/736, 82.47%) coyotes retreated quickly from aversive conditioning. The likelihood of coyote retreat increased with the number of previous aversive conditioning engagements at the site and when high intensity aversive conditioning treatments (i.e., those where dogs were used and shots were fired) had been applied prior to the event being investigated. Retreat likelihood declined with the number of days since the last aversive conditioning engagement.I then implemented and assessed a community-based hazing program conducted in Edmonton, Alberta, in 2021 and 2022. Trained volunteers patrolled their residential neighborhoods while searching for coyotes and coyote attractants. When coyotes were observed, volunteers determined their boldness and, when appropriate, hazed coyotes by running towards them while shouting and throwing weighted tennis balls in their direction. Throughout 1,598 patrols, volunteers observed coyotes 175 times, and conducted hazing on 23 occasions. Almost all coyotes (22/23, 95.65%) retreated from hazing. I found little evidence that this treatment affected subsequent coyote boldness or the frequency or timing of subsequent coyote reports, but the low frequency of hazing events limited the power of these tests. My results suggest that both low and high-intensity hazing cause coyotes to leave the immediate area, but only the higher intensity hazing conducted in Calgary demonstrated measurable changes in subsequent behaviour by coyotes or reporting characteristics by people. High-intensity hazing may be necessary to change the behaviour of bold animals, but low-intensity hazing may deter coyotes during conflict situations while increasing the sense of security in residential areas experienced by people.

• Subjects / Keywords

  • Alberta
  • aversive conditioning
  • Canis latrans
  • coyote
  • hazing
  • human-wildlife conflict
  • human-wildlife coexistence
  • citizen science
  • community science

• Graduation date

  Spring 2023

• Type of Item

  Thesis

• Degree

  Master of Science

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/r3-av8p-b625

• License

  This thesis is made available by the University of Alberta Libraries with permission of the copyright owner solely for non-commercial purposes. This thesis, or any portion thereof, may not otherwise be copied or reproduced without the written consent of the copyright owner, except to the extent permitted by Canadian copyright law.