Wolves Everywhere!

by Angela, Andrew, Vicky, Mike, S P Milligan, P Dupont, Jordan, Mona, Joanna, Chris, Michael, Eino
(Tamworth, Kawartha Lakes, Markham, Bowmanville, Parry Sound, Guelph, Waterloo, Oak Ridges, Cobourg)

Over the past several months we have received reports of Wolf sightings from our readers.

Angela from Tamworth said ... Our German Shepherd was very agitated last fall and barked continuously right after sunset.  She is an excellent guard dog and barks at Coyotes as they move through the area yipping and making a racket. This was different; she was very agitated.  When we went outside to calm her down, we heard barks and howls that were definitely coming from a Wolf.  Wolves have been sighted in our area - north east of Napanee along the Salmon River.  I've seen Wolves in the past, but last fall there are many more sightings as well as people hearing them.

Andrew wrote to report ... I was about to take the dog for a walk thru 200 acres of woodlands when a Grey Wolf came bounding down the farm road. This was Sunday morning about 9:00 am.  He climbed a small sand hill by the barn about 100 yards from the house and we just watched each other.  I quickly got the dog in the house then found the binoculars for closer look but forgot the camera in all the excitement.  It was a beautiful animal, full coat, obviously very healthy, too large and full bodied for a Coyote.  It just sat in the sun for a few moments and as I moved forward he left, looked back once and then casually walked into the woods.  I'm off to get a bell for both the dog's collar and my coat.  It was an amazing encounter so close to the city.  Aurora Road and McCowan area in Southern Ontario.  Our next walk in the woods will be very interesting!

Vicky Weber from Thurstonia Park wrote to say ... Last November I saw this beautiful, massive Timber Wolf crossing County Road 24 (between Bobcaygeon and Dunsford) in the Kawartha Lakes area tonight.

Mike M told us ... while driving in July at 3 pm on a sunny day, I saw a large red/grey Coywolf come up from the ravine on Apple Creek Blvd (just east of Woodbine), run across the bridge in front of my car. And head back down into the ravine on the other side of the road. It was as big as my German Shepherd. I walk my dogs in the various tracts of the York Regional Forest 365 days a year for decades. And have seen many coyotes. And had them come up to me. That was the first Coywolf I saw. And it was right in Markham. The is a episode of Nature of Things on the Coywolf. And apparently they are common all through the GTA. They come out mainly at night. 

S. P. Milligan wrote to say ... Three days ago my girlfriend and I spent an incredible night camping on the little island in the middle of Red Horse Lake.  The GPS coordinates are: 44.530709, -76.078712.  This lovely little island has a fire-pit, clothesline and plenty of natural driftwood. The soil was still quite dry and we were careful to keep the fire low. Nevertheless my breaking up of some firewood we brought along prompted an eerie call from the east bank.  It was a low, rolling bark, culminating in a frustrated half-howl.  I told my girlfriend it was probably a bird and started thinking about how I could fight off a pack of Wolves with burning driftwood. For the next two hours, every time I broke up a piece of firewood, or stirred the coals, a lone Wolf would howl on the east bank. I would estimate him to be about 200 feet away at the most. I did not see any flashing yellow eyes when I trained my flashlight on the treeline, but the howl was so close I could hear its wheezing preamble.  After we put the fire out and lay in the tent, we could hear maybe three Wolves on the west bank answer the other Wolf's call. They kept up a soothing chorus for most of the night and I found myself lulled to sleep by their cries.  When we woke up the next morning, our one bag of trail mix – pinned to a nail in a tree about seven feet from the ground, ten feet from our tent – was ripped into neat plastic pieces, it's contents disappeared.  I could find no paw-prints. My girlfriend and I agreed it was probably for the best if we said a Raccoon was responsible. We got picked up after dawn by my uncle. Twenty years ago he assisted in the breaking up of a Wolf den in a cow pasture nearby. Only in Canada.P Dupont from Bowmanville, Ontario, wrote ... we hear them every day, early morning or late at night. They must have had a litter as can now hear young yelping. Beautiful sound, unfortunately many cats are disappearing in in the area, so people need to keep them in. Concession 3 at Liberty in Bowmanville is our area, sometimes they sound like they are in our back yard, other times further in the distance.

Jordan Lefaivre wrote to tell us ...around 7:30 pm one day in November, my wife and I heard a large pack of Coyote or Eastern Wolves howling for 5-10 minutes. It was a distinctly different sound from dogs bark or howl as the many dogs were howling, barking as well.

Mona Forster, from Seattle Washington saw two white Wolves near Perry Sound ... on January 15th while driving to Toronto my husband and I spotted two large white wolves on the side of the road eating something. We slowed down and tried to take a picture but they were very shy and ran into the woods. They were very large and very fast. It was an amazing sight!

Joanna from Guelph ... As I was driving today on Wellington 38 near Guelph Lake, a large grey animal ran across the road right in front of me. At first, I thought it was a German Shepherd dog as it was quite big and husky (too large to be a Coyote I think), but after further investigation, I am wondering if I saw a Grey Wolf. I unfortunately could not capture a picture.

Chris from Waterloo wrote to report on Wolves in Laurel Creek Conservation Area ... I was out for a walk on the red trail the other day and I spotted a Grey Wolf crossing the trail directly in front of me. It was about 30 ft away from me and looked to be about the size of a golden retriever dog.  Location: Where the red trail runs alongside a nearby corn field.  My first reaction was: "Somebody forgot to put their dog on a leash", but it became apparent that this was no dog, and no other dog owners were around.  The conservation area has deer and turkeys, not to mention lots of geese. I'm sure these are common prey for Wolves.  The Wolf completely ignored me, and never even looked at me while it was crossing the trail. It seemed preoccupied with something else.  If you're near the conservation area, you will occasionally be able to hear what sounds like a dog barking in the woods. I don't know whether it poses a threat to humans or not, and I don't know if there's more than one in there.

Michael, from Oak Ridges, Canada, said ... today at around 4:00 am I heard Wolves howling in my backyard trees in Oak Ridges. I've heard Coyote before but never Wolf. Make me think how safe it is to stroll in the evening on the Thomas Broadhurst Trail...

Cathy asks about Wolves in Mississauga ... we live close to the Credit River and on three occasions we have seen what looks like a Wolf. This animal comes into our backyard, it's too big to be a fox and looking at pictures of Wolves it looks more like a wolf. We are hoping to get a picture but it always disappears before we can capture.

Eino wrote to say ... No questions, just a report of an Eastern Grey Wolf sighting. On February 9, at 08:07 single Grey Wolf walked south to north through my property in Cobourg, Ontario. Have spotted a pair of Coyotes passing through three times over the last two weeks around 08:30 give or take 10 to 15 minutes.

Thank you to our readers, for taking the time to write to us and report your Wolf sightings - keep writing, keep taking pictures and remember to tell us where, when and what the animal was doing when you observed it.