Cape Bretoners call for coyote bounty

A Cape Breton man who had a close encounter with three coyotes on the weekend is calling for a bounty on the animals.

Blair Boone, 20, said Wednesday that he was walking near his home on Hills Road in Mira, just outside Sydney, around 5:45 p.m. Saturday when he heard an animal moving in the woods.

Three coyotes then approached him and looked ready to attack, he said. That's when Boone yelled at them and waved his arms around.

"You could see their teeth, you could see them growling," he said. "They were in attack mode. They never attacked me, but if I never screamed or did what I did, definitely they would have attacked me."

Boone said thecoyotes backed off, but 10 minutes later they surrounded him as he made his way up Hills Road near a driving range. He started screaming again.

"Butthey weren't scared this time," he said. "They just took a step back and then they surrounded me. Then the man across the golf course, he must have heard me because he came out on the step. Then I went up to his house, and I went in and the coyotes took off."

Coyotes showed no fear

Boone is calling for a bounty on the animals because he said they weren't afraid of him at all. He believes they're adanger to people and he's reported his scary encounter to the provincial Natural Resources Department.

Peopleon the other side of Cape Breton Island have been plagued with coyotes in recent weeks as well.

Inverness County Coun. Gloria LeBlanc is calling for a bounty on the animals because they have been wandering into people's yards and onto walking trails around the county.

"People have seen them on their back doorstep, have been followed by them when out walking, and also in the village of Cheticamp they have been seen in the village which is rather scary," LeBlanc, who represents Margaree-St.Joseph's, said Tuesday.

Bounties don't work

LastOctober, a 19-year-old folk singer from Toronto was killed by coyotes while hiking on the Skyline Trail in the Cape Breton Highlands National Park, not far from Cheticamp.

Taylor Josephine Stephanie Luciow, who went by the stage name Taylor Mitchell, was first taken to the hospital in Cheticamp, before being airlifted to Halifax, where she later died.

An expert on coyotes said bounties don't work because when the animals are under threat, females produce more young.

Brad White, chairman of the biology department at Trent University in Ontario, said efforts to get rid of coyotes in other areas of North America have failed.

People simply have to learn to adapt to living with a larger coyote population, he said, and in some cases, farmers may have to change their practices to protect vulnerable animals.

Coyotes are not generally a threat to humans, White said.