Students at Brampton elementary school being kept inside amid reports of coyote roaming school grounds

Students at a Brampton elementary school are being kept inside for the remainder of the week amid concerns about a coyote or multiple coyotes that have been seen roaming the property.

One of the animals was first seen outside Our Lady of Peace School on Mar. 1 and has been observed multiple times since then.

• Download our app to get local alerts on your device
• Get the latest local updates right to your inbox

A spokesperson for the Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board tells CP24 that staff have been in contact with Brampton Animal Services “for assistance and direction” and “continue to look to Brampton Animal Services for a solution.”

However, in the interim the school has made a decision to keep children inside until the start of March Break next week.

“Animal control has been called by I couldn't even tell you how many people. People in the community, parents, the school. We have all called and we all have gotten the response saying that they can't do anything about it because it's in its own habitat,” Anastasia Agelakos, who has two children attending the school and a third enrolled in a daycare located on the property, told CP24.com on Monday. “It is not a danger until it is a danger. Is it going to take a child being mauled for something to happen?”

She said that residents in the vicinity of the school near Queen Street and Chinguacousy Road have in fact been spotting coyotes for the last “couple of months.”

But she said that it was only last week that members of the school community began to see a coyote in and around a soccer field at the rear of Our Lady of Peace.

A coyote is seen near Our Lady of Peace Separate School in this photo provided to CP24. (Submitted)

That prompted a letter from the school on Mar. 2, informing parents that both staff and students had been advised “to be extra vigilant” and to report any additional sightings immediately.

“It (the coyote) was literally running around the field all day. It parked itself and just laid down in the middle of the snow in the field, 10 feet away from the daycare,” Agelakos said. “There is a small little forested tree area that it runs to. But it is running around all day long. It is extremely concerning.”

Agelakos said that children are being taken directly inside the school at the start of the day and are not allowed outside for recess or lunch, for the time being.

But she said that “nothing is being done” to directly address the problem.

She is fearful that without action, the coyote will continue to roam the school grounds.

“The school’s hands are tied. All they can do is contact animal control themselves and they have,” she said. “I don’t see anything happening unless animal control actually captures and relocates them.”

CP24.com has reached out to the City of Brampton for information about how it is handling the file but has not yet heard back.

Agelakos did say that she was contacted directly by Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown on Monday after he learned of the matter. She said that Brown told her that he would contact animal control himself and see what could be done.

In the meantime, Durham-Peel Catholic District School Board spokesperson Bruce Campbell said that the school has “communicated with parents/guardians about the sightings and provided information to them from Brampton Animal Services.”

He said that school staff have also been directed to be “extra vigilant.”