Coyote with three functioning legs newest resident at UBC Vancouver campus

The COVID-19 pandemic has left UBC’s Vancouver campus bare of students making it the perfect home for a new resident — Kip the coyote.

According to UBC, Kip was born sometime in 2020 and has been wandering the campus since then. The young coyote unfortunately has suffered an injury to its back leg, leaving it with only three functioning legs.

Although Kip may look cute, experts at UBC say it’s best to keep a distance.

In a statement from UBC, Dr. Kristen Walker, researcher and assistant professor in the faculty of land and food systems explained those who see Kip should be loud and yell.

“Based on reports of this coyotes’ behaviour, it keeps its distance from people and does not show habituation or dependence on humans. To maintain this healthy boundary, community members are asked to ‘haze’ this or other coyotes when seen—persistently, consistently, and humanely,” stated Walker.

“Hazing means scaring it by standing one’s ground, raising one’s arms to look big, and making lots of noise, leaving a clear escape route for it to leave.”

“You may also throw nearby objects like sticks or stones towards them (not to hit), pop open an umbrella, or shake a noisemaker like an empty pop can filled with rocks. The key is to look and sound big and threatening.”

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UBC Wildlife experts, the Conservation Officers Service, and the Co-existing with Coyotes program through the Stanley Park Ecology Society, are carefully monitoring Kip’s injury progress.

Walker said Kip will be fine as long as the campus community leaves it alone and does the same to the dozen other coyotes who’ve taken up residence at the UBC’s Vancouver campus.

Those who spot Kip should email Dr. Kristen Walker at [email protected], so she and her students can keep track of the coyote’s location and condition.