Wolves in Hamilton Area?

by May
(Caledonia, Ontario, Canada)

I live on the outskirts of a town called Caledonia. I only live about 20 minutes from the city of Hamilton here in Southern Ontario.

I used to live in the country and have heard many Coyotes howling, so I can can tell the difference between a Wolf and Coyote howl.

I'm also pretty confident that I was not hearing any sort of hunting dog, for I own a beagle and have heard him howl on many occasions.

I was in a field by a large wooded area with some friends and the sun was just starting to set so we were heading home. As we were walking back we heard a deep lonely howl. Naturally we assumed it was just a Coyote seeing as we hear them almost every night, but a couple of seconds later we heard what sounded like 1 to 4 individuals howling back.

That's when I thought - well maybe its hybrids or something like that.

Most people who have lived in town long enough have seen a few of the area's Coyotes and from what I've heard they are too big to be Coyotes, but too small to be Wolves, so some of us just assume they are hybrids.

But then a week later I was talking to a friend who lives in a small town called Townsend, about twenty minutes away from where I live, and he had been in the woods around town with his father and they encountered 4 individuals that were about the size of my 120 pound king shepherd cross.

I still thought that it was just large Coyotes or hybrids, but then i heard something from a friend who lives on the Six Nations reserve near where I live, and a few months back she had seen two individuals in the woods near her home that she was convinced were Wolves.

After that I did some research and found that Wolves have been sighted before in my area.

If they are here I'm glad they are because I'm sick of all the Coyotes around here, but I will be more careful about where I'm walking my dogs!

Thank you so much for sending us this report of your experience - I'm sure our readers will find this very interesting, as I did!