by Lesley
(Scarborough Bluffs, Ontario, Canada)
August 17,2011
Good evening everyone!
I ran across this site in a search engine and I have enjoyed reading the various comments.
I live in the Scarborough Bluffs and this evening
I was taking my little dog for a swim at the lake. I met a man named Jim who wanted to warn me about the Wolf that visits the walkway before the beach. Personally I have never seen a Wolf here or near any heavily populated area.
For many years I lived in Fort Kent, Alberta. During one very cold winter, there was a Wolf attack of a young child. The hunt was successful but a litter of young pups were discovered and had to be taken and hand reared by individuals. My dad took one of the wolf pups a young female and raised her in his home as a dog.
A Wolf's legs are lengthy with huge paws and the height of the Wolf is taller than most German Shepherd’s and the body is a little longer. The fur on a healthy animal is always dense and evenly distributed through out the body.
A friend of mine was walking with me on my dog walk and we spotted the animal together. He said "That's a Wolf! but I said "No, that is a Coyote!" and his response was "Coyote's are small"
I explained that the Eastern Coyote is an interbred animal and on occasion the inter-breeding has lead to Wolf genes of a Wolf to become more predominant in some cases.
I have never heard a Wolf howl at night here in the city nor in the Brampton area, although I have heard the calling of the Wolf before. The Howl is long and lingers the same voice call for some time.
Coyotes Yip and Yipe and the sound is short and repeated in quick bursts of excitement.
I only hope that the Wolf is making a come back as they are a majestic creature that can instill the fear of God if seen up close. Just go to the zoo and you will see what they look like and how they try to ignore you, but if you are lucky you might just have one look at you.
Make sure you have the camera with you, it will make good reference to your next sighting and most likely there will be a next time due to the fact we have so many Coyotes living in our cities that we just don't know what to do about them.
Education should be something that the experts should be teaching us. One of the things I always do is carry a walking stick, one end is a little pointed.
Coyotes have been known to take small dogs on leashes in hand from their owners. They stalk from the tall grasses and they use the trees to suddenly strike.
In my opinion these animals are possibly sick and are looking for an easy meal. Most coyotes eat rabbits, mice, worms, what ever is eatable.
Although these poor unfortunate domesticated dogs have been attacked, the attacks are still rare occurrences.
Just be aware that the tree wooded areas are home to many creatures, and that you are walking through their home land. Be respectful don't leave food behind, pick up after your animal, and always be alert and carry something like a walking stick to protect yourself.
Take Care!
Thank you for your great submission to our website - I hope you don't mind, but I moved it from the "Comments" section, to here, where it can have a page all to itself!
I will also post this on our facebook page.