West Vancouver mom out with warning after son chased by 5 coyotes

A West Vancouver mom is warning others in her neighbourhood, saying her 13-year-old son was left shocked and scared after being chased by a pack of five coyotes on his way to school.

On Monday morning around 8 a.m., Coralynn Gehl’s son Hunter left their Altamont home like he does every day. Five minutes later, he ran back inside.

“He came rushing back through the door hyperventilating and panicking,” she tells CityNews.

“At first he said there was a coyote on the street. When he managed to sort of gasp out that there were actually five of them, and they had followed him — honestly it was terrifying. It’s just not something you expect to hear. It’s not something we expected to have happen. They absolutely chased him up the street.”

A pack of 5 coyotes chased my 13 YO son up the street in West Vancouver. He’s fine but traumatized. That’s not natural behaviour for them, is it? We called Conservation but apparently they likely won’t do anything.

— Coralynn Gehl (@CoralynnGehl) October 18, 2021

Hunter was on his way to the bus stop, headed for West Vancouver Secondary. He noticed the animals when they were about 50 feet away from him.

“I looked forward and I saw four coyotes, all fully grown, and then I saw the fifth one go around and circle the whole pack and start walking towards me. The pack followed that coyote. They weren’t running but they were stalking me,” he explains.

“I think that was probably the actually scariest moment of my life because I have never actually been in an encounter like that. It was the one time I came home and barely could breathe.”

Hunter says he followed his instinct, which was to sprint to safety. But he has since learned running away is one of the worst things to do in this situation.

“I’m still quite nervous to go back down the street, but for a precaution, I’m going to take a small air horn with me something to scare it off if they ever get near me,” he says.

We talk a lot about what to do when we see a bear (and he’s run into one on his way home from school) but it honestly didn’t cross my mind to discuss what to do when we see coyotes. They usually run away, not towards. #MomFail

— Coralynn Gehl (@CoralynnGehl) October 18, 2021

Coralynn says coyotes are a common sight, but she’s never seen or heard about anything like this in her neighbourhood before. It prompted her to have a conversation with her son about what to do if a coyote does approach him again, and she wants others to know what happened so they can be careful and have similar conversations.

“It’s not something I ever would have thought of, but you need to let them know what they should do if they see a coyote, which is to make themselves large, to make themselves scary, throw something at it, and absolutely not to run, because that is what will make them chase,” she says.

“There’s also an elementary school in the neighbourhood. And there are a lot of little kids walking into school, so I think it’s important that parents know they are in the area and the little kids especially need to be walking in groups of two or three. This was just a really shocking occurrence, and I think it’s important that people know what happened.”

‘We really need to be on the ball’

When she called the BC Conservation Officer Service, Coralynn says she was told they have not received similar reports.

“He said it’s a complete anomaly, a one-off situation, although obviously, it was really alarming,” she says.

The service has confirmed receiving the mother’s call, saying “officers followed up on the report and learned the animals did not make contact with the individual.”

Another reason Coralynn wants people to know what happened to Hunter is so everyone can pitch in and be on the lookout for aggressive or strange coyote behaviour, and report it to the conservation service.

“We all really need to be on the ball. For example, if you see one walking along the road or in a yard when you’re driving, [the conservation officer] suggested honking at it. Or if you see one when you’re walking or see one in your yard, yelling at it throwing rocks at it, doing whatever it takes to make them afraid to be around people, which I think is a really important message for everyone.”

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Her son’s frightening experience brought to mind the spate of coyote attacks in Stanley Park that recently forced a closure and a cull.

“Stanley Park is the first thing that crossed our mind, the fact that they had gotten habituated, and they were displaying really odd and aggressive behaviour. It had me wondering, something like that what’s happening here,” Coralynn says.

“Stanley Park was shocking enough but honestly as close as we are to Stanley Park I just didn’t think it would be an issue here.”

After Coralynn posted to social media about the ordeal, a West Vancouver councillor responded.

“This is concerning and demands some action. I will follow up,” wrote Craig Cameron on Twitter.