Coyotes around Ontario

by Frank, Dan Bonner, Al, Michael Logan, Patricia Cosgrove, Michelle, Natalie
(Newmarket, Caledon, London, Chatham, Cambridge, Puslinch, Oshawa, Barrie, Kettle Point, Mississauga)

One of our readers saw a Newmarket Coyote pack ... last week was driving home around 5:30 pm and saw a pack of Coyotes in field just outside of Newmarket, Silver City, they were all just chilling there watching the cars drive by.

Frank from Caledon said ... People. If you live in the GTA you are seeing large coyotes, not wolves. City coyotes are packing up to take down larger prey such as deer as deer populations are huge in the GTA. Bigger prey brought down in a group effort breed larger Coyotes than solitary rodent killers. Though wolf like in appearance they are Coyotes. If you ever have the privilege to see a real Wolf you will know and you will be no where near Toronto.

Dan Bonner from London hears howling every night ... We live on Southdale Road West near Wharncliffe Road. Every night for the past two weeks we have heard Coyotes howling and yipping at around midnight. My guess is that they are in the fields around Wonderland Road and Exeter Road. You can almost set your clock by them.

One of our readers from Chatham Kent wrote ... My daughter and I just saw something black bolt down our driveway. It was fast and almost like a gallop. It did not look like a dog, it was different. We live right off an old gravel pit/bush so it came running up from that area. Are there black Coyotes? We don't know what it was but believing that it was a Coyote.

Al wrote to say ... On March 1, after nightfall at 8 pm, I heard a large animal breaking through the snow crust. I was in the ravine on the east bank of Sawmill Creek about 500 m north of the bus transit way station on Walkley Rd. Amidst the light brush and deadfall, I looked from behind a tree, and the startled Wolf or Coyote (about 30 feet away) turned and bolted. It had dark fur around its face. A month earlier, at the same locale, there were tracks of a large canine in the fresh snow and bloodied remains of a small mammal, with no human footprints nearby. I see small Otters which have burrows along this creek bank. On March 18, 2015 at 2 pm, I photographed a shaggy brown Wolf or Coyote walking east in the light brush along the base of Codd's Road hill, north of Montreal Road. I was in the open about 100 m away, but the animal was not afraid, it just kept walking. A fellow walking his dog nearby informed me others have sighted Wolves in the area.

Michael Logan from Cambridge said ... Our family had just come back home from a walk along the Linear Trail in Cambridge Ontario. My youngest daughter said she thought there was a stray dog in front of our home as we approached. As we got closer, the animal remained standing still staring at us, we realized it was a Coyote. I yelled at the Coyote and it moved a little. But I actually had to run at it to get it to move away from our driveway. I chased it back to the trail and kept yelling and waving my arms. It certainly was not running very quickly. I thought that it had retreated to the river and I went back to my home. Moments later we went to check out front and the Coyote had resurfaced and headed back towards Riverside Drive (on the street). We called the city but they suggested to call the Ministry of Natural Resources. We have seen them from a distance along the trail but never this close. Very concerning since this is was still daylight.

Patricia Cosgrove from Puslinch said ... January 3 was a very cold day. I was walking my 2 golden retrievers on my property around 4 pm. They started heading towards the barn and I noticed them sniffing outside the barn. The barn has only half a door. I started hitting the side of the barn making loud noises as then I saw the Coyote run out of the barn and run away into the field. I was very cautious to enter the barn. I haven't been in the barn in a week. There was an open bundle of insulation that had been messed with and that is where it has been sleeping.

One of our readers from Oshawa said ... It's 11 pm and my house backs on to a ravine. I am on a major street (King Street) just 5 minutes from down town Oshawa and there are 2 howling in the back yard causing my neighbours rotti to go crazy. I went out with a flash light and they ran back into the bush, I recorded them howling to each other. Too dark for an image, just sounds. I'm surprised they are so close to the GTA

In August Michelle from Barrie wrote ... Night before last in the south end of Barrie something killed my cat. He got out around 11-12 am. Neighbours have spotted Coyotes in the area often but I had never seen them so close. He was found in the morning approx 5 ft from a path in the park off Jessica Drive. Had to be something large as the upper half of his body was no longer there. Please everyone, do what you can to keep felines indoors, it's not safe for them even in this residential area.

A reader from Kettle Point wrote ... I woke a few times during the night to the howling of a pack of Coyotes. I had originally thought they were across toward a neighbours house. I went outside to investigate and I realized they were right close to my house.

Natalie from Mississauga wrote to us about her midday encounter ... I was walking my dog in a large open parkland and a Coyote was wandering around inside a fenced baseball diamond. This was at noon on a clear sunny December day in South West Mississauga. It looked healthy and very curious and even followed my dog and I walking along the fence-line.