Coyote sightings

by David and other Readers
(Mississauga & Oshawa)

Sightings around Mississauga ... January 2020, Coywolf pack at JC Saddington Park. I was on my bicycle for a frigid late evening ride when I approached the park from the west side parking lot. It was eerily quiet, pitch black, and I could sense their presence. As I slowly entered the park on one of the paths, I was almost immediately greeted by this big coywolf. He literally came out of the bush and onto the path as if to tell me that this is his territory. I told myself to hell with this, he's definitely not the only one here, so I turned around and left the park as slowly as I entered. As I made my way to the other side of the park on Lake Street, I could hear the pack howling it up. I assume that they were howling at me in a way to communicate their territorial victory. I grew up in Mississauga my whole life and had never been bullied by a pack of coywolves until then. It's kind of disturbing to me that the City of Mississauga doesn't see these animals as a public safety concern. They're big, aggressive, and exhibit no fear of humans. I understand the need to coexist, but when they've lost their natural fear of humans, they become very dangerous. People should have a reasonable expectation of safety at any time of day in city parks. I don't think being stalked by a pack of coywolves in the dark of night meets that description. It also doesn't help that a lot of people are complete idiots and deliberately feed them for their own personal amusement. Great website, very well done!

October 2021 David said ... first let me say that I have seen a lot of coyotes in my life and have never felt they were to be feared. Secondly, I have 3 dogs ranging in size between 50 and 90 lbs. So this morning, around 4:30-ish I was just finishing up walking the first dog when we noticed a rabbit at the end of the driveway staring in our direction a few houses down from mine, I see them all the time, they usually just hop around and never seem intimidated by my dogs but without warning this rabbit sprinted down the street as fast as they could. Maybe 3 - 5 seconds later, the first of 2, of what I figured would be coyotes, came out of nowhere and gave chase. The thing is these 2 were frikin big! Way bigger then any coyote I have ever encountered before. So big that they could not have been coyotes. I'll be honest, the encounter left me a little rattled and if they feel comfortable enough chasing a rabbit down a street like I witnessed they would have problem doing the same to most other animals in the area. Like I said they were much bigger and specifically much taller then the typically coyote. So big that it makes me wonder where there den is located as I can't be the first person to have seen them. Was this a coywolf ? Have there been any other reports of coywolves in the area ?

One of our readers wrote ... August 2021 When we were walking behind St. Basil's school, along Golden Orchard Drive, we observed a lone coyote on the baseball diamond around 5:57 pm. It was a large greyish/brown coyote and it walked towards the woods beside the playground on the S/W side. It was not aggressive and looked peaceful. Its fur was beautiful. Most likely it came from the pack that lives beside the adjacent Little Etobicoke Creek at Rathwood Park.

Another reader said ... East Mississauga sighting of a lone coyote was observed walking along the east pathway to Rockwood Glen Park near the Dixie Road/Rathburn Road area. The sighting occurred about 7 pm and the coyote was just walking peacefully. This park has a small playground on the west side that was occupied by about 10 kids/adults but the coyote stayed well off to the east side. The sighting only lasted for about 10 seconds before the coyote turned along Rockwood Road. Overall, the animal had a very beautiful coat of grey fur and looked magnificent. The city has planted new trees along the north side of the park and locals have seen the coyote multiple times just sunbathing near the high grass.

An anonymous reader said ... from my balcony I am looking at a Coyote across the street, Cawthra and Lakeshore Beachcomber Road.

Oshawa sightings ... This morning (September 8 2021) at 9:00am I was driving west on Gibb ( before it turns into Burns St. E) and on the right saw a "dog" with no owner walking toward the playground at Limerick park. I quickly realized it was a coyote, dark brown in color with a very healthy coat. It was fairly large. It waited until the sidewalk and street was clear and proceeded to trot along the north side of Gibb going west before crossing the street to the south side and disappearing into the field . There was one lady walking her golden retriever who stopped and watched the coyote run across the road. Oshawa is full of them for sure.

Thank you all for sending us your Coyote sightings!