Well populated since the mid 19th century, Vancouver British Columbia Canada, a major west coast city which is where my wife and I live, hardly qualifies as copious Canadian wildlife territory. Or does it? Some time ago on a hiking trip in the mountains about a hundred kilometers inland from Vancouver, camping in wilderness terrain, after dark I heard what I guessed might be coyotes and/or wolves howling. Quite literally the ‘call of the wild’. An accompanying colleague who knows these things better than I assured me the sound was that of coyotes not wolves. Not that being attacked by a coyote would be like playing with say a standard poodle in comparison and I very much doubt I could get one to sit! A coyote that is of course, not a poodle! No worries with the latter. They are among the most intelligent of canines. Both dog lovers, we don’t have a dog but we are fortunate to have a number of friends and neighbours that do who are happy to have us walk their dogs and at times have them board with us when they are out of town. This including a very sweet poodle, a quite comedic Boston terrier and an ultra energetic West Highland White Terrier we have known since she was an eight week old puppy!
Fast forwarding so to speak, lo and behold I recently and for the first time locally, heard what seemed to be the sound of coyotes (for sure not wolves!) mostly after dark but occasionally also in broad daylight seemingly coming from somewhere very close to our house in the east end of Vancouver. The howls I guessed were originating only about a block away if that. Quite close to us there are signs posted warning of coyotes killing cats and hence to ‘not let your cat out after dark’. Frustratingly some people do so, often to appallingly cruel ill effect. A domestic cat has essentially zero chance against a coyote. Come to think of it I’m not entirely sure that I have! Putting the boot in may not fully address the issue.
In our east Vancouver location I understand from long time resident local neighbours, coyotes used to be diurnal as in hanging out primarily in broad daylight but over time, likely because people were routinely and illegally killing them, they gradually switched to a mostly nocturnal existence. Certainly many unwitting cats have been and continue to be taken at night by current generation coyotes.
Some months ago we started to hear daily howling starting just before dusk in the form of long loud doleful and wailing cries, generally from what sounded like perhaps a solitary coyote not far away from our house. Not having seen any near our location for some time, we wondered if it might in fact be one or more wolves since the howls are apparently fairly similar. It could also we figured, be a wolf-dog since wolves can and do interbreed with dogs as do coyotes. Wolf-dogs are bred domestically so they are not uncommon. I determined to at least find the source of the howls not that there would be much if anything I could do about it other than howl back which I am inclined to do. * In any event, we do not mind the howling, in fact we have grown to rather enjoy it. Certainly it was and is a for real and haunting ‘call of the wild’ generated in this case in a busy Vancouver suburb.
The odds were we felt that the seemingly solo animal involved within our hearing was a dog likely crossed with either a coyote or a wolf since interbreeding is possible in both situations. Since the sound always seemed to come from the same location I went looking for it. I found it barely a ten minute walk away. Guess what. It wasn’t a coyote nor was it a wolf. It was a very large and thus presumably male, completely white Husky as in dog! Behind some foliage, the animal was solidly wire mesh penned into the front yard of a house hopefully and seemingly with no way of escaping. (It was not tethered). On noticing me peering in to its ‘den’ he or she did growl, bark and snarl extremely aggressively at me with considerable malice and movement within its limited confines. There was no sign of the owners and no way to knock on the door without clashing with the animal. No thanks. I have visited the dog subsequently many times albeit so have about a dozen or more other people often at the same time. On hearing the howl, each time we went, there was no sign of and thus no way to communicate with, the dog’s owners short of getting it to ‘sit’ whilst one of us knocked on the door? Not a chance of course.
So are there in fact many resident coyotes in our part of Vancouver? Indeed there are, considerably so. They are also in many other parts of town including our famous thousand acre Stanley Park. They have become emboldened in the latter to the point where they have apparently been biting both children and adults many of whom being unsuspecting tourists likely trying to feed them by hand and/or God forgive, pet them! So there you have it. The window is open and I can hear our local caged and howling Husky dog as I write!
* I have had voice training and sang for years as a first tenor in several large and small choral groups in Vancouver on occasion performing as a soloist. For what it’s worth (not a lot) see top right of my blog (www.barrydevonald.com) for my rendition of Bring Him Home from the musical Les Miserable. I can do better honest! The song per se however is magical as are the words and the musical accompaniment. One can’t have everything.
** In Vancouver, killing a coyote these days is in general not legal. However, there are exceptions under specific circumstances, such as when a coyote poses an immediate threat to human life, pets or to property this according to the BC government. Also, coyotes can be legally ‘harvested’ by licensed trappers or hunters during open hunting and trapping seasons. Not remotely my ‘cup of tea’. I am on the side of the coyotes. Wolves? Maybe not. Let me think about it!
*** By the way, a coydog I have discovered, is a canid hybrid resulting from a mating between a male coyote and a female dog. Hybrids of both sexes are fertile and can be successfully bred through apparently four generations. Similarly, a dogote is a hybrid with a dog father and a coyote mother. Who knew?
