Tuesday
Feb102026
Visiting Things
Tuesday, February 10, 2026 at 5:49PM 
What do you do instead of going out? You crawl into a crate so no one can see you. LOL That is Murphy!
Today we had a visitor on our deck. The dogs went absolutely wild - some more than others. You can see this being in the gallery. The being just froze and wouldn't move till I got everyone away from the door and then it sauntered off.
It is always an amazing amount of fun around here. Even though it was Dennis day off, he went and carried Ollie inside as he was the most - I got to get this thing but if I do what do I do with it?
Is it still cold? YEP!
Reader Comments (7)
Lucky you. Hope your visitor hangs round. You have a built-in pest control expert.
Love that picture!!!
I personally wouldn't want it closeby, like raccoons or skunks. Also read that they do not eat as many ticks as people might presume.
Google for the diseases they might carry.
I hope it actually leaves, permanently.
Dorothy: It has been here for at least 2 years. We do not see it in the winter so this was new. I am told this is a hard season for all wildlife as the ground has been frozen and we have had extreme cold. I talked to 4 wildlife rescues and 2 private companies. They said to leave it alone. The only disease carrier is lepto and racoons and skunks carry it as well. No one will move it as it will die. If you want to it has to be in spring. They said as it is attached to the environment they live in, it will find its way back. They do eat ticks. They also said you would know if it had lepto as it would be sick. This thing had no frostbite and no evidence of illness. It is just ugly, imho.
I have spent the last 2 days taking photos, sending them to places and discussing it. Everyone said it is not harmful to the dogs unless it drinks its urine. I even had one go as far as telling me off as you can take a dog for a walk and it can drink urine and get sick. None of my dogs drink urine and they know leave it. We are always out no matter what the weather is watching the dogs. This way I know what their output looks like and who had that output.
They said they do not have a long life in the wild so longevity should not be a concern but not to kill it as it is against the law. One expert at the wildlife centre thought I was over reacting. Maybe I was.
I guess I am as its been living here out of sight for a couple of years. They even went as far as to say many people will never see them as they come out at night and early morning to eat. Most people do not realize they reside in their yards.
Come spring we also have bats who eat ticks. We are a regular wildlife suburb. You may be too and not realize it.
Where I live between the Etobicoke creek and the Humber River, we have just about everything, just waiting for a moose to come along, jk. Some people have lost their dogs in their yards to coyotes or even been followed or bite, I know a number of instances. Called once for a coyote that just lounged on a neighbor's front lawn, didn't look healthy. I've seen 1 opossum a number of times, actually during the daylight hours. And to move an animal in winter or in breeding/pups season, I wouldn't either, let them live.
I'd just be more happier not having another carrier of potential transmitable diseases to my 2 dogs, the nightly skunks in summer or raccoons during the day, let alone the Norway rats, is enough. We always go out with our dogs too, to report on their business but also we can see the coyote tracks in the snow in the backyard. We carry a big pole on our twilight walks. I think they go after the rabbits and birds, yes, I have a lots of seeds on my perennials or shrubs to feed them all, saw a blue jay just a couple of days ago. Sometimes a cold winter helps to kill some diseases or pests, like mange, ticks numbers might go down too.
Thank you for your thorough investigation on this matter, it'll probably help others as well.
Dorothy: Many many years I lived directly on a ravine in California and learned to live with coyotes. They would walk down the streets in numbers at night. They rarely created issues as there was a high degree of understanding how to live with them and what to do. I do not think there is enough education in Toronto as they do kill pets when hungry and will rarely but will attack humans - mostly children which is rather awful. California talked about culling and they actually did at one time and it didn't help. They talked about relocation. It didn't help. Just like a dog they can sense fear. We never took our dogs out at night. I had thought it is my home, my dog's home and they should just move on. I wanted to enjoy my yard without concern, Was that too much to ask? Then I started volunteering at a wildlife centre that followed a catch, mend and release. I have more understanding.
Yes, opossums will come out during the day when they are hungry - all animals will. You can tell if it is sick by observing. When the head of one wildlife centres talked to me and said obviously they do not socialize except for momentary breeding and taking care of young but they are very very solitary beings. If they are in your yard, and it is an adult, it most likely has been living there more than a year. The chances of it passing on lepto is exceedingly low. But I was told, if I am concerned, vaccinate my dogs with a lepto vaccine. Toronto has no plans to control opossums as they are beneficial to tick control.
With a frozen ground, the passing on of anything from parvo, lepto to giardia is low. It is during the melt season that it is a concern. Toronto has been rather a cold frozen tundra this winter.
Now coyotes are a concern but even with attacks, Toronto appears to be conservative and leans towards protection vs safety. Hawks are also a concern to small dogs but usually the 8lb or less versions. We have one that resides on the 407 and Bayview.and when I visited Yvonne one year, while we were walking Kat, one kept flying down and then swooping up the entire walk.
Toronto and the surrounding area has a huge population of wildlife - mostly protected. Balance is necessary but often is not on minds of those that make decisions.
Interesting discussion again, thank you.
We have hawks on the very next block, about 5 years now, nesting yearly and successfully raising their young. Tom was in the backyard 1 summer with Pixie and one swooped real low, thinking maybe to pick her off but probably realized she was too big. Sadly, the tall pines are being cut down due to age or by request, some were their nesting trees.