Coyote activity in Mississauga prompts councillor to ask about animal-proof trash bins
Published April 28, 2023 at 2:16 pm
A Mississauga councillor wants to know if the City’s garbage and recycling bins in parks and trails in his waterfront ward–and perhaps across the city–can be made more “animal proof” in the wake of several recent coyote incidents.
Ward 1 Councillor Stephen Dasko says what he believes to be a recent increase in coyote activity and interactions in the Port Credit area, particularly “along watercourses and the waterfront,” has him and a number of residents concerned that food left in public waste containers is attracting the wild animals.
He asked senior City of Mississauga staff at Wednesday’s (April 26) meeting of general committee if they can look into the possibility of making public waste/recycling receptacles more animal proof.
Staff responded that the thousands of relatively new waste/recycle containers located in public spaces across Mississauga are considerably more animal proof than the previous, more open bins.
“There was a whole study and process done about waste bins in the city and the (design) chosen was chosen for a number of reasons,” staff said, adding that, “if we want to just design animal-proof containers, that’s very different than managing the waste management issues that we have in our parks and public facilities.”
Staff said they can take a further look at the matter, “but the (current) containers are much more animal proof and resistant than…the old drum containers that we used to have that weren’t split receptacles (waste and recycle in one container).
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“If there’s a retrofit we can do, we’re happy to (look at that), but there was a lot of thought and effort put into the selection of the containers that we chose.”
The City’s interactive coyote sightings map does not indicate a significant recent increase in coyote sightings/interactions in the Port Credit area. Of the fewer than 10 sightings/interactions shown on the map, the most-recent sighting was on April 12.
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