Management of few animals in BC is more contentious than wolves. The animals, seen by some as symbolic of the province’s wilderness heritage and by others as a threat to game species, agriculture and pet and human safety, are making a comeback in the province.
There have been reports from people living in forest interface areas south of Powell River, whose pets have been targeted and/or attacked and killed by wolves. Phoebe Kingscote, owner of Tanglewood Farms, said she had a large working dog killed by wolves.
Since the incident, Kingscote has been talking with others who’ve had run-ins with wolves. “There were some girls on a trail ride that related a story of two dogs that were attacked but got away because some people woke up and scared the wolves off,” she said. “This was up around the Dogwood Kennel area. There was another incident out in the Palm Beach area where a resident had a close call with their dog. The dog came crawling down the driveway on its belly when [the owner] called it in and [the owner] said he saw two wolves standing at the top of the driveway. Later that night the wolves came right onto his porch. There have been a number of other people who heard about my dog Angel who told me other stories.”
Both the BC ministry of environment and the ministry of forests, lands and natural resource operations (MFLNRO) share responsibility for wolf management in the province. Powell River is part of the ministry of environment’s region two, which includes all of the Lower Mainland, Sunshine Coast, Sea to Sky Corridor, Lower Fraser Canyon and parts of the Cascade Mountains.The MFLNRO released its draft management plan for the grey wolf in November 2012 which has raised concerns of conservation groups across the province who say the plan is unbalanced, leaning too heavily on limiting wolf populations and not enough on protecting habitat.
According to the management plan, in this region there have been no reported kills of wolves by resident hunters in the hunter harvest survey since 2005, but wolves are being harvested in other areas. The number of wolves in the region is reported to be growing due to increased availability of prey (possibly due to the reintroduction of Roosevelt elk), direct observation and anecdotal reports.
MFLNRO estimates the current provincial wolf population to be at approximately 8,500 animals, up from 8,100 in 1991. These numbers, however, are difficult to verify and are based more on mathematical modelling than direct observation.
An authority on wolves said he is not surprised that the provincial government has not benchmarked wolf populations.
“I think people do want to know and to investigate, but to do it at the scale that’s required in BC is very difficult, costly and things change quickly,” said Dr. Paul Paquet, senior scientist with Raincoast Conservation Foundation and adjunct professor at the University of Victoria. “It’s something that, if you were to undertake it, you’d have to do it continuously.”
Since 2000, Paquet and Raincoast colleague Dr. Chris Darimont have been working together on a study on the effects clear-cut forestry has had on wolf and deer numbers on the central and north BC coast.
Paquet said that while wolves might not be doing so well on Vancouver Island, up the coast the species is doing better.
“Part of the advantage of living on the coast for a wolf is the lack of people,” said Paquet explaining that the coastal wolves in the area are not hunted and the possibility for human conflicts is pretty low.
Coastal grey wolves are generally smaller than other wolves and often their fur has a reddish tinge. Because the coastal greys did not face near extermination they have retained much of their original genetics and that makes them unique, said Paquet. A diet including salmon and other marine animals also sets them apart.
Paquet explained that the animal’s tail is a sure way to determine if it is a wolf.
“If the tail is curled at all, you know right away that it’s not a wolf,” he said, explaining that a wolf’s tail is straight and does not touch the ground like a coyote’s.
If livestock or a pet has been killed by what is thought to be a wolf, BC conservation officers (COs) can examine the carcass to determine if it truly was killed by a wolf. He added that wolf scat and dog feces are quite different. Wolf scat will generally have more hair in it from the animal that was consumed.
Heather Bryan, leading scientist with Raincoast, said that preventing run-ins between pets and wolves is a case of teaching people how to avoid these kinds of situations. “I think that it will require raising awareness among community members about the importance of wild predators, the benefits and responsibilities of living with wildlife nearby and what can be done to prevent tragic losses of pets or wolves,” Bryan explained. “The typical way this plays out is that locals with guns or conservation officers with guns kill a few, but almost never all of them. COs do not move wolves like they do, say, grizzlies. This is because they are valued less, and can reproduce more quickly after losses. Yes, [wolves] often but certainly not always eat dogs they kill. Yes, wolves do get habituated to humans, and primarily via attractants that humans leave behind at camps or dumps or in yards. And yes, in India and perhaps Russia, there are several documented cases of wolf attacks on people. In North America they are very rare.” Bryan said there are some websites out there that might have people believe otherwise, but wolf attacks on humans are simply not at all common.
Darimont said that wolves do sometimes mistake dogs for interloping wolves in their territory. “They deal with them like they do naturally: scare them off or frequently dispatch of them,” he said. “Not pretty, but natural. So what’s required is to change human behaviour. Keep dogs on leash, or keep dogs inside at night. It’s a big ask for many people but it is what’s required. We cannot change wolf behaviour. And killing them will not help. Within months more will move in and those younger ones will more likely be involved in conflict.”
Paquet said he was not surprised to hear reports of wolves in Powell River and he suggested that more work needs to be done to document the wolves in the area before people become too alarmed.
He added that people have coexisted with wolves for centuries in different parts of the world and all that is required is a shift in thinking.
“People often talk about living with wolves as a matter of tolerance, but really it’s a matter of acceptance,” he said, adding that there is a dramatic shift in how people act toward wolves when wolves are accepted versus just being tolerated.
