What's already on the public record
- The City contracted Coyote Watch Canada and Critter Gitter in late March 2025 for Fort York/Liberty Village
- Coyote Watch Canada logged roughly ten field days, ~7 hrs/day, 1–3 staff
- The City's public coyote education module was built in partnership with Coyote Watch Canada
- Coyote Watch Canada markets ready-to-use policy templates and municipal sign templates to local governments
- 2025.EC22.4 directs Municipal Licensing & Standards to fund wildlife and community organizations out of the 2025 operating budget
- Toronto Wildlife Centre reports roughly $8M revenue and describes holding a small municipal contract plus a City grant toward its new facility
Our Primary Research Below
Private correspondence from the City of Toronto, August 17, 2026. Reproduced in full. The only changes are the redaction of the intermediary body and of the responding officials' names. Originals held by the researcher.
What would it cost to cull a coyote in downtown Toronto?
Costs depend on what party performs the cull, and the specific circumstances of the situation. If Police kill the coyote – the cost is the services of the Police, which the City pays for through the Police budget. Police have killed coyotes that posed a public safety risk on 2 occasions in Toronto. Any culls require that the coyote can be identified and isolated. To hire a licensed hunter/trapper to kill a coyote the price can be variable (~$1,500 - $2,000/day for an experienced hunter/trapper which is necessary, especially in a densely populated location, such as downtown Toronto) and dependent on what's required – it is extremely difficult to have a coyote to enter a live trap, and use of permitted foothold restraining or relaxing cable restraint traps could result in a pet dog/cat being trapped and injured when used in the downtown core, even if the traps are closely monitored. An experienced hunter would have to be on-site and tracking the coyote for several days and then bait/attract the coyote to a spot where they could then humanely dispatch the coyote. Police must be informed and notified when and where this activity will occur. It can be very challenging to find a location where the coyote will appear and where there is no risk of people being present.
What is the cost of relocating a coyote?
This is dependent on where the coyote will be relocated and includes the cost of trapping and transporting to the location. Relocation must include consultation with the Province for guidance and approval. It is rare for the Province to approve relocation of a healthy or problem coyote.
What is the cost of the City's current coyote approach?
Current costs include salaries for 1 Project Coordinator ($100,000) who focuses on analysing data collected on sightings and incidents to promote a proactive approach, 1-2 hours daily during the early spring to late fall months for 1 – 2 Animal Control Officers ($46.00/hour) to patrol areas where service requests for public safety issues received; multiple education sessions held in neighbourhoods experiencing human-wildlife conflict incidents, each session is 1 – 2 hours with ~ 1 – 2 hours preparation beforehand by the Team that includes the Project Coordinator, Mobile Response Unit Manager, Mobile Response Unit Supervisors and the Director; third party expert providing surveillance and assessment of areas where human-wildlife conflict has been reported through contracted services ~$25,000 – $50,000 annually
City of Toronto's Costs as of August 17, 2026 per our Email Records
| Item | City's figure | Unit |
|---|---|---|
| Project Coordinator | ~$100,000 base; ~$120,000–$125,000 loaded | per year |
| Animal Control Officer | ~$46.00 | per hour |
| ACO patrol time | 1–2 hours | per day — the City does not say whether this is per officer or total |
| ACO officers deployed | 1–2 | per patrol day |
| Patrol season | "early spring to late fall" | not defined in days |
| Third-party surveillance contract | $25,000 – $50,000 | per year |
| Licensed hunter/trapper | $1,500 – $2,000 | per day |
| Hunter days required per coyote | "several days" | not quantified |
| Police coyote kills | 2 occasions | number of animals not stated; no time period given |
| Education sessions | 1–2 hrs each + 1–2 hrs prep | 4 named roles, at least 5 people; number of sessions not given |
| Relocation | not quantified | provincial approval rarely granted |
Cost of ACO Patrols
| Patrol season | Days | Minimum | Maximum |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6 months (Apr–Sep) | 183 | $8,418 | $16,836 |
| 8 months (Mar–Oct) | 245 | $11,270 | $22,540 |
| 9 months (Mar–Nov) | 275 | $12,650 | $25,300 |
Annual Totals, 8 month season
| Minimum | Maximum (Reading A) | Maximum (Reading B) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Project Coordinator (loaded) | $120,000 | $125,000 | $125,000 |
| ACO patrols | $11,270 | $22,540 | $45,080 |
| Surveillance contract | $25,000 | $50,000 | $50,000 |
| Education sessions | not costed | not costed | not costed |
| Police time | not costed | not costed | not costed |
| Annual total | ~$156,000 | ~$198,000 | ~$220,000 |
Cost by Coyote
| Days on site | At $1,500/day | At $2,000/day |
|---|---|---|
| 3 | $4,500 | $6,000 |
| 5 | $7,500 | $10,000 |
| 7 | $10,500 | $14,000 |
| 10 | $15,000 | $20,000 |
Cost of Culls (reacl action)
| Coyotes removed | Low ($4,500 each) | High ($14,000 each) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | $4,500 | $14,000 |
| 5 | $22,500 | $70,000 |
| 10 | $45,000 | $140,000 |
| 25 | $112,500 | $350,000 |
| 50 | $225,000 | $700,000 |
| 100 | $450,000 | $1,400,000 |
Toronto's problem-coyote caseload
| Event | Period | Problem animals identified | Killed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Police responses to public-safety risk | no period stated by the City | not stated | 2 occasions |
| Liberty Village / Fort York cluster | Nov 2024 – May 2025 | 4 | 2 |
cost at the real caseload
| Scenario | Animals | Cost at $4,500 each | Cost at $14,000 each |
|---|---|---|---|
| Typical year | 1–2 | $4,500 – $9,000 | $14,000 – $28,000 |
| Cluster year (2024–25 equivalent) | 4 | $18,000 | $56,000 |
| Standing programme with an early trigger | 10/yr | $45,000 | $140,000 |
What do the numbers really tell us
1. Toronto already kills coyotes. The question is whether it does so on purpose.
The City confirms police have killed coyotes on two occasions. In the Liberty Village/Fort York cluster, four problem animals were identified and two were killed. Lethal removal is not a hypothetical departure from Toronto's approach — it is already part of it. What Toronto lacks is a framework for it. The removals happen at the point of emergency, by armed officers, in dense residential areas, with no cost accounting and no criteria set in advance. The choice in front of Council is not coexistence versus killing. It is improvised killing at the moment of crisis versus planned removal by a licensed professional at a time and place the City chooses.
2. At Toronto's real caseload, targeted removal is small money.
The current programme costs roughly $156,000 to $220,000 a year. Toronto's demonstrated problem-animal caseload is one to two animals in a typical year, four in the 2024–25 cluster. At the City's own hunter/trapper figures, that is $4,500 to $28,000 in a normal year and $18,000 to $56,000 in a bad one. Even a standing programme removing ten animals a year tops out near $140,000 — still below the low end of what the City spends now.
3. The City cannot tell Council what its current approach costs.
Two line items in the City's own answer are marked "not costed": the education sessions and the police time. The education sessions involve four named roles and at least five staff, at one to two hours each plus one to two hours of prep, with the number of sessions never given. Police responses are absorbed into the Police budget. The third-party contractor logged roughly ten field days at about seven hours a day with one to three staff. So $156,000 to $220,000 is a floor, not a total. Any comparison to removal costs understates the gap.
4. The City's difficulty argument cuts against the status quo, not for it.
The City says culling is hard downtown: traps can catch pets, a trapper needs several days on site, police must be notified, and finding a spot with no people present is challenging. All of that is true. All of it is also true — more true — when an officer discharges a firearm at a coyote during an active incident in Liberty Village. If density genuinely makes lethal removal dangerous, that is an argument for a licensed trapper working under controlled conditions on a planned timeline, not an argument for leaving it to emergency response.
5. The vendor relationship is a fair process question.
The City contracted Coyote Watch Canada for the Fort York/Liberty Village response. The City's public coyote education module was built in partnership with Coyote Watch Canada. Coyote Watch Canada markets ready-to-use policy templates and municipal sign templates to local governments. And 2025.EC22.4 directs Municipal Licensing & Standards to fund wildlife and community organizations out of the operating budget. Those four facts, stated plainly and in that order, raise a legitimate question: is a vendor helping to write the policy that generates its own contracts?
