Saskatoon woman says she was cornered by aggressive coyote while walking dogs on city trail

Linda Lund says she was walking her two small dogs along the Meewasin trails in the Silverwood area in Saskatoon when a snarling coyote started coming toward her.

She said she screamed and tried to get away, but the animal kept getting closer.

"He came flying at me, full teeth bared, growling. I could not keep him anymore than 10 feet away. I had my dogs with me right by my side," Lund said.

"I didn't know how I was ever going to escape with both of my dogs that night."

Lund said her dogs were clinging to her legs and whimpering until a woman came out of a nearby backyard and started distracting the coyote.

Lund said she ran into an open garage to seek shelter and hid for 30 minutes until the coyote was gone.

"It's terrifying," she said. "I'm a farm kid, growing up around coyotes all my life, but this is ridiculous."

Lund said she has seen people feeding coyotes, making them less fearful of humans and leading them to stay closer to trails. She said she isn't walking her usual route anymore and started carrying bear spray because she's scared of losing her dogs or getting hurt herself.

She said coyotes have become more aggressive recently.

"What has to happen before something happens? Does a kid have to get hurt before action is taken?" she said.

Motion incoming

Saskatoon Ward 5 Coun. Randy Donauer brought coyotes up in council last week, saying residents are frustrated and calling for a policy change.

"I think most major cities in the country have a coexistence with wildlife policy, and we do too, and for the most part, our residents are fine with that," he said.

"Where it needs to be elevated though, I think we need to see that there's an opportunity to elevate it and actually move in and maybe remove them if that's possible."

Donauer gave notice that he intends to bring forward a motion asking city administration to investigate and offer options to deal with the coyotes.

If the motion goes through, city council would eventually debate and vote on the options presented in the report, and the public would also be able to weigh in.