Montreal Mayor Valerie Plante said the city is going to all necessary measures to track down coyotes believed to have bitten three young children in the past week.

She said Monday that the city is working with a private compant to bait and trap the wild animals, in particular any that could be aggressive to humans.

Plante says simply removing the animals from the island would cause other problems to the local ecosystem.

"The coyotes are here, we can't just get rid of them," Plante said. "It would just create more problems and they would just come back."

The incidents took place on the evenings of July 22, 27, and 28 at Parc des Hirondelles and Parc Gabriel-Lalemant.

Laura Fiumidinisi was walking her dog in Parc des Hirondelles when the attack happened – she says a coyote boldly approached three different families, and bit a three-year-old on the leg.

“Women were screaming, men were just running after it,” she said.

"It's just traumatic for kids, especially now if they see my dog," Fiumidinisi explained. "I'm sure they just don't want to be near an animal anymore."

Three children, two boys and a girl all five and under, were treated for minor injuries after coming across the animals.

Coyotes also confronted an adult in the past few days.

Fiumidinisi said an overgrown brush near the train tracks in a problem. Trash is dumped there regularly and may be attracting the coyotes.

 

“We've been calling the city just to maintain the area. Around Port Royal (St.), even before, we saw a lot of coyotes but they seem not to do anything about it,” she said.

Borough Mayor Emilie Thuillier said the area is property of CP and CN. When people complain, the borough asks the railways to clean it up.

“Normally they do it when we ask and if they don't do it, we do it with our workers,” she said, adding that people have to do their part, and stop dumping their trash.

The borough of Ahuntsic-Cartierville isalso  warning residents to be on alert, and has placed posters around the borough to inform residents that two coyotes had been spotted in the area.

Officials warn citizens not to feed or approach the animals; keep pets on a leash while walking in parks; and to back away slowly, keep calm and maintain eye contact if one is encountered.

"We are telling people not feed the coyotes, don't give them water, don't take a selfie with them," said Thuillier.

They're warning residents to stay out of the park after sundown, and will be setting up cameras and patrolling the area. 

While coyotes are normally shy and timid around humans, these two were more aggressive. 

Wildlife experts expect the coyotes are looking for one thing.

"They will usually, in the wild, be carnivores that go after small mammals," explained Caroline Bourque, from the Ecomuseum.

"Unfortunately, what we're seeing is people might be feeding them," she added. 

That means coyotes get closer, and are less afraid to interact with people. Bourque suspects that's what happened with these recent bites.

"If we don't have food in that instance, then it could be a reaction of frustration, saying 'hey, I should be getting food from you," she said.

There have been 379 reported coyote sightings in Montreal between June 2017 and March of this year. 

Five people were bitten, and 11 dogs attacked, but the problem is especially bad in Ahuntsic-Cartierville - where 70 per cent of the incidents took place. 

In April, the city spent $29,000 to hire a trapper, and set up a hotline to report coyote sightings.

"The City of Montreal approached us to make sure the techniques that are going to be used, if some individuals have to be captured, that the technique and devices that will be used will be the most humane ones in the world," explained Pierre Canac-Marquis of the Canadian Trap Research Program.

If you spot a coyote, please report it to the coyote hotline at 438-872-COYO (2696) between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m.


- With files from The Canadian Press