No coyotes have been trapped in Stanley Park in over a week.
The provincial government's cull of the wild animals in Vancouver's famous park was planned to last two weeks and kill up to 35 animals. Those two weeks are almost over and so far four animals have been euthanized, all within the first few days of trapping. No animals have been caught and killed since before Sept. 11, over 10 days ago.
"We are still observing the data, and wildlife staff have increased monitoring efforts to learn more, but it is possible there may be fewer coyotes in the park than anticipated," states the Ministry of Forest in an email to Vancouver Is Awesome.
The ministry is hopeful that as they continue looking they'll come up with a more accurate number of coyotes in the park.
In early September the ministry told V.I.A. trapping could start as early as the evening of Sept. 7. As of tomorrow night (Sept. 21) that will have been two weeks ago.
Prior to the provincial cull the B.C. Conservation Officer's Service (BCCOS) killed a half-dozen coyotes as dozens of attacks on people were reported. The BCCOS only turns to lethal action after an attack has occurred, and takes efforts to only kill the individual animal that attacked.
The province turned to the cull as an option to prevent attacks from occurring.
"The decision to lethally remove the coyotes was not the Province’s first choice, and only comes after considerable effort into finding other alternatives to prevent the incidents," the province has stated.
Once the trapping phase has ended the province hopes the park environment will reset.
The Vancouver parks board tells V.I.A. the closure of Stanley Park from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. due to the threat of coyote attacks will remain in place for now.
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