Three Coyotes

by Joanna
(Oshawa, Ontario)

On February 27, 2010 I was walking my pack (3 Dobermans, one chocolate lab, a Boxer-lab and 2 Min Pins) At the Darlington Conservation Area in Oshawa/Clarington.

It was approx 9pm and my dogs and I were walking by the shoreline of Lake Ontario when I looked back and saw, by the light of the moon, 3 fairly large Coyotes sniffing the path we had walked, approx 200 meters behind us.

In an instant reaction, I started to make a lot of noise and got my dogs to bark. I picked up a stick and some rocks just in case. We started to walk towards them (which was our way back to the car)

The coyotes retreated into the woodlands/brush and in about 2 minutes the Coyotes started to howl and yap. I figured it was definitely time to go home and started walking back towards the car fast. I looked back every couple of minutes. The Coyotes seemed to be following our trail because they came out behind us and were sniffing where we walked in the distance.

It seemed like they were secretly trailing behind us. Again, when I saw them, I started to make a lot of noise. I was panicked as I remembered reading about the young Torontonian singer who got killed by a pack of Coyotes in Eastern Canada just this past fall.

We picked up our speed. At this time I was VERY thankful that I had my pack of dogs with me. I felt somewhat safe.

Then I remembered reading about a couple of ladies and their 3 golden retrievers who were cornered by some Coyotes!

In about 15 minutes we got back to the area where my car was. There was no sight or sound of the Coyotes but one of my Doberman females spotted something in the bush and ran for it. It was a skunk! She did get sprayed and that's how my walk to Darlington Conservation ended.

Thank you, Joanne, for your exciting report - I'm glad you had your dogs with you too!