Wild Coyotes co-exist with humans and share a one thousand acre natural habitat. A couple of nights ago I went to see Bikini Beach in Stanley Park, on the edge of the city of Vancouver. I like to walk the sand on low tide and witness the changes made recently by powerful winter storms.
It was a dark and stormy night about one a.m., when I was passing by the back of the lawn bowling club and I saw in the mist first one coyote and then another. Two wild coyotes were crossing my path as they also came up from the beach. They both looked healthy and stealthy, one even boldly stopped to size me up, then they both ran off into the night.
Coyotes in Stanley Park
I was so happy to see the coyotes because it meant they had survived the culling, you see the city had to close the park for 6 weeks this past summer to cull the coyote pack of 35, the Park Rangers said. I occasionally would hear them howl at the siren of ambulances coming over Lions Gate Bridge and onto Georgia Street which crosses through Stanley Park.
So it was me howling at the moon (in happiness) when I saw the pair of marauding canines. It makes the park all the more wild and free to me. The other thing that’s critical about the coyotes is that they catch and eat the wild rats that live in the rocks along the seashore. If it weren’t for the wild coyotes our precious Bikini Beach would be infested with rats.
Wild Coyotes are essential to the balance in nature, every critter has a place and a purpose. Every day I see wild animals in Stanley Park, the reason I love Vancouver is nature in the city.
Update: On January 1, 2022 at 1:57 am I was shutting down for the night and looked out the window into a snow storm, with 3 inches of fresh powder piled up, and low and behold I see a big beautiful healthy wild coyote cruising down the middle of the street. Also, saw a pair coming up from the beach a few nights later. The wild coyotes of Vancouver are thriving in Stanley Park (again) and I take it as a really good omen.
No comments yet.