There have been wolves at the door. Two of them. Well, not exactly at the door, but right beside the house. Yesterday morning, Leah’s brother Johnny came in to work and told me that there was a wolf’s (Canis lupus arctos) tracks beside the house, right under the window of Travis’ room. Both he and Danny had had a look and were pretty sure they weren’t dog prints. They had another fellow have a look at them in the afternoon light and he announced that the prints were wolf, and not only that that there were two of them, a larger and a smaller one. It looks as though they had given chase to our resident Arctic Hare (Lepus arcticus), who lives under the house.
Usually no self respecting wolf comes near town. They are normally found shadowing the caribou. Since moving here I’ve seen one wolf crossing the road between first and second bridge (about 10 kms from town) and have heard of tracks by Uluksan and Holy Cross point, which mark the mouth of Arctic Bay. But I guess that the caribou are a little closer this year, there are some a little ways across Adam Sound apparently, so it would make sense that wolves would be closer to town also.
Arctic wolves are a subspecies of the Wolf with a shorter muzzle, smaller ears and shorter legs (probably an adaptation to the cold). Arctic wolves have a reputation of being unafraid of humans and there are famous cases of biologists (David Mech and Farley Mowat to name two) living among them while studying them. Those seem to be cases from fairly remote areas, and here where they are hunted they will flee from snowmobiles and people.
It has always been touted that wolves are no threat to people and that there has never been a document case of wolves killing a person in North America, however that changed this year. The wolf attack, near Wolloston Lake in Northern Saskatchewan (I was almost transferred there once), appears to have been from a small pack of four wolves who became habituated to people and garbage. Wildlife and garbage has never been a good combination and as is usually the case wolves are under more threat from us than vice versa.
The population of wolves in the Arctic, and in the near vicinity, is quite healthy thankfully. I am a little worried, however, about the population of Arctic Hares living under my house.
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9 responses
Great to be back.
Worried because you have the Arctic hares under your house, or worried because the wolves might eat them? Whichever, having wildlife like hares and wolves around your house must be wonderful. Me, I have plenty of birds and invertebrates but as for mammals, it’s just the sheep sheltering under the house when the weather’s bad, an occasional brushtail possum (not inspiring), and in winter a few rats (even less inspiring).
Fascinating stuff, Clare. Tell us more.
I have noticed an increase in the amount of wildlife roaming around in the city I live in as well.
Deer and rabbits are now a constant sight. And even birds such as crows make regular visits. I had never seen a crow near the city for all the time I have lived here. And this year there were up to 5 at a time visiting my back yard.
No wolves yet though..
I hope to see wolves in a couple weeks in a more natural setting than I have so far, which is eating roadkill at the side of a highway. I’m going to a storytelling retreat in the Boundary Waters! 😀
It’s always struck me as odd that the animal that gave rise to man’s best friend should be so maligned by man.
In the US, our federal government has just turned the management of re-introduced wolves in Idaho back to the state government. This is not good news for the wolves because the state law in Idaho calls for wolves to be “killed by any means possible.” This is from a report yesterday on National Public Radio at http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5126603. In Idaho and Washington D.C., myth and the interests of money always come first.
Glad to have you back Bughunter. Hope the move went relatively smoothly.
pohanginapete, I was worried that the population (one) of under The Arctic House Arctic Hares was too low to be sustainable. It would appear that those fears are justified as there were no fresh tracks in the snow today, although maybe he/she is just lying low in the Bunny Protection Program. It was nice having a resident Hare, but truth is, I kind of pull for the predator in these conflicts. We get a fair amount of wild mammels in town, Hares, Arctic Fox, Weasel, the very occassional Polar Bear, and now Wolves. And I know it isn’t just sheep you have there, I saw the Stoat pictures.
There can be quite a bit of wildlife within city boundries H&B2. Living in Winnipeg, there was a large population of Whitetail deer within the perimetre, there were flocks of wild turkey, along with the usual urban wildlife, squirrel, racoon, Coyote etc.
Best of luck with the wolves in Boundery Waters Gwyn. I had much more luck hearing wolves in the Boreal than seeing them, even when they were very close. It is an amazing sight though.
Thanks for the link to the NPR story Larry. At least the good news is the success of the re-introduction. It sounds like it has been an outstanding success.
How wonderful, and a little unnerving to have wolves in the neighbourhood. I lose resident rabbits and hares to foxes and coyotes pretty regularly, but then another one comes along.
Interesting case there in Wollaston Lake. In one account I read that the young man who was killed had been out with another guy the day before and they’d come back all excited that they’d been able to get within 5 feet of a pack of wolves. Not a huge surprise that he was killed when he went out on his own. And sadly not a surprise that people can be so foolish about wildlife as to think that being able to come so close to a medium-sized predator in the wild is a good thing and not a cause for alarm (or disrespectful).
I hadn’t seen the International Wolf Center article-nice balanced piece–thanks for pointing it out.
hi Clare, an informative post- but I do not care to follow the links to read about wolves being shot from helicopters. When one chooses to live in the remote wilderness there are always risks. To my ancestors they were sacred- and they remain so to me.
I’m not sure where in the links it mentions wolves being shot from helicopters Cindy (although the International Wolf Centre article does mention two of the wolves involved being shot and clothing and human remains found inside them), and while I’m sure that there are risks living in remote areas I doubt Kenton Carnagie’s parents find much solace in that. The case near Wolloston illustrates the dangers in 1) habituating wild animals to people and garbage and 2) treating wild predators without the fear and respect they deserve. Unfortunately as we continue to shrink wilderness there is more and more opportunity for conflict between wild animals and ourselves. Ultimately the wild animals lose in this conflict, and when they do so do we.