Near Sassafrass Point, Cootes Paradise, Hamilton

by Brebis
(Hamilton, Ontario, Canada)

Last night about midnight (Friday March 21, 2014), I saw the biggest "Coyote" that I have ever seen.

It was about 30 yards away, walking fast southish, towards the lake, on the side of a snow-covered ridge.

I was walking the opposite way at the bottom of that ridge.

It paid no attention to me.

I did think that maybe it was a Wolf, but was not aware that Wolves were in Hamilton.

Earlier that evening, at 9 p.m., there had been the greatest amount of barking, growling, and howling, and shriek-yapping that I had ever heard from Coyotes, very close to me as I walked the ridgeline.

I've heard Coyotes up close many times, but never deep howling like that, nor the growling with it.

Then again at 12:30, as I climbed the next ridge over, the same vocalizations again.

Do you know for certain that we have wolves in Cootes?

It would be unlikely to be a Wolf, however, there are Wolf / Coyote hybrids spreading south - Coywolves, so perhaps this is what you have seen.

They can be bigger than a regular Coyote, and also they can have more wolf-like behaviour.