It's no secret that coyotes tend to roam the parks and streets of the Lower Mainland, but what happens when these wild dogs get too close for comfort?

This is what happened in South Burnaby recently, creating panic amongst the community after seeing a video posted on YouTube of a coyote following a woman and her small dog near Suncrest Elementary School.

The Stanley Park Ecology Society plans to address this concern in the form of a presentation on April 7. The presentation will advise people on pet safety and the roles of schools when dealing with coyotes Segments of the YouTube video will be shown.

Suncrest Elementary School principal Denise Bullen said that she had heard of a couple of concerns from parents in the community about coyotes in general, so she decided to be proactive and bring in Co-Existing with Coyotes.

"We look at the nature of the concern and provide the appropriate outreach and education necessary," said Phil Dubrulle, program coordinator of Co-Existing with Coyotes.

Burnaby school trustee Diana Mumford said that the video is a good example of why an information session at Suncrest is needed. She said that children need to know what to do to scare coyotes away.

"There's a lot of bad examples that come from this video that we hope to touch on and explain to people how you can learn from this," Dubrulle said.

Co-Existing with Coyotes is a program developed by the Stanley Park Ecology Society in cooperation with the Vancouver Parks Board and B.C.'s Ministry of Environment. The group aims to reduce conflict between people, pets and the estimated 2,000 to 3,000 coyotes living in Greater Vancouver.

"We act as a liaise to receive information, assess it and then make some decisions about what course of action needs to be taken. Sometimes it's as easy as hazing, other times it's providing a presentation to the community," Dubrulle said.

Hazing coyotes - scaring coyotes in a safe and effective manner - is a popular topic amongst the organization. He said that they ask people to assess how used to people a coyote is and try the big, mean and loud approach. Putting your hands over your head, stomping the ground and yelling "go away coyote," is the first step in avoiding any problems with a coyote. If that does not work, the coyote shaker comes into play. This is a can of about 15 or 20 pennies that is shaken or thrown in the general area of the coyote to scare it off.

Mumford said that word is being spread throughout the community, and she is hopeful that the presentation will have a high turnout.

"I think awareness is key to what we should do and how we should do it," she said. "This is very much the right thing to be doing to provide information to families and the community."

Bullen has even extended an invitation to South Slope Elementary School as well as the neighbourhood block watch.

"Coyotes are a reality in the Lower Mainland, and we have an opportunity here for people to hear from an expert," she said.

Dubrulle said he has made Burnaby Parks and the Burnaby SPCA aware of the issue and is in the process of arranging crew talks to better inform staff members.

Co-Existing with Coyotes has been around for 10 years and conducts three annual presentations in Vancouver. A call centre arranged through the Ministry of Environment is open to anyone with coyote concerns and rakes in 600 to 900 calls and emails per year.

Dubrulle hopes that the person who captured the coyote incident on camera will attend the upcoming presentation, which will take place at Suncrest Elementary School in the gymnasium at 7 p.m. It will last for about an hour and a minimum donation of $5 is appreciated.

Anyone who comes into contact with an aggressive coyote, has seen one attack or kill a pet, or simply has a sighting to report is encouraged to contact the Environment Ministry call centre at 1-800-663-9453.

For more information visit www.stanleyparkecology.ca