Meet the 'park warriors' whose mission is to call out wildlife feeding in Vancouver
CBC
Local and longtime users of Vancouver's biggest park are hopeful that arrests made this week in relation to the feeding of wildlife will be the deterrent they say is needed to help put an end to aggressive coyote attacks for good.
In the meantime, they plan to continue doing what they've been doing for months: calling out people they see sprinkling kibble and other food around for animals in Stanley Park.
"We are the warriors in the park telling people, 'Don't feed, you shouldn't be feeding,' but people can be extraordinarily obnoxious when you say that," said Jacqui Birchall.
A two-week park-wide cull of coyotes concluded this week, a last resort to stop coyotes from biting people.
Four of the animals were captured and euthanized during the cull. A total of 11 coyotes have been removed from the park since January. Since December, there have been 45 reported aggressive coyote attacks in the park, some involving children.
Birchall, who first started living in Vancouver's West End in 1969, walks in the four-square kilometre park everyday. She was upset about the cull, but agrees that humans feeding coyotes, which officials have said is one of the factors contributing to the aggressive attacks, is a problem in the park that needs to be addressed.
She says on numerous occasions she has either found food left for animals in the park, or witnessed people placing food out in order to draw raccoons or coyotes closer.
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