Toronto's growing wildlife problem could get a dedicated response team

Toronto city councillors passed a motion on Wednesday asking city staff to look into a business model for a wildlife response team, amid a growing number of animal incidents including dangerous dog and coyote attacks. 

The motion comes after city staff and concerned residents proposed a dedicated team to address human-animal issues.

Carleton Grant, the executive director of Municipal Licensing and Standards, which includes Toronto Animal Services, said without proper resources, the team is spread thin to manage wildlife issues across Toronto.

"It is very challenging to do this with existing resources. We saw a serious decline in service levels across the city because of our focus on [coyote management]," said Grant

"We need to continue to build our team in such a way that we are able to respond and to respond as the community expects us to and that is with some urgency."

Proactive and reactive responses

He said the city saw a 13 per cent rise in animal incidents, from dogs off leash to dangerous dog attacks, in 2024 compared to the year before. 

Citywide reported coyote attacks on dogs went up from 36 in 2019 to 91 in 2024.

Grant added that a dedicated team would not only alleviate the load on Animal Services, but would provide year-round proactive and reactive responses.

Several residents spoke at the meeting of the economic and community development committee Wednesday, many agreeing with staff calling for the creation of a city-wide wildlife response team. 

Among the speakers was Liz White with the Animal Alliance of Canada, an organization that says it works to protect wildlife and promote coexistence.

"It means that this team would be early responders to situations regarding human-wildlife issues and would be able to get on top of it before it blows out of proportion," said White.

City staff to flesh out business model for team

The proposal initially put forth by city staff requested up to $1.4 million for 11 full-time employees for a complete team and an additional one-time cost of $260,000 for a fleet of vehicles. 

Coun. Shelley Carroll instead put forth a motion asking city staff to flesh out a business model for the team for consideration during the 2026 budget process. 

She said the current proposal didn't fully consider the annualized impact in future years and the possibility of working with partner agencies or contractors.

"We contract services to cut trees when we're overwhelmed and need help to cut the trees. If we need more help with coexistence in a certain neighbourhood, then we got to be able to reach out and look at alternative service delivery to do it," said Carroll. 

She said a thorough proposal with those considerations in place would create a sustainable long-term response team that has the capability to respond to emergencies. 

The item will now go to city council for debate at its next meeting, scheduled later this month.