Mike W. Bryant
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Oct 09/02) - Michelle Mayes will likely be a bit squeamish next time she needs to pay her backyard shed a visit. Mayes got a shock Saturday afternoon when she overhead some noise outside her Con Place trailer, and decided to go investigate.

Michelle Mayes takes an apprehensive peek into her shed where she encountered the wolverine. - Mike W. Bryant/NNSL photo

"I was house cleaning and I heard a big racket outside," said Mayes. "I went outside and I saw a wolverine in the doorway of my shed."

A neighbour's dog was barking at it, at which the wolverine pricked up its ears and promptly waddled back into the shed.

Mayes, who has lived in Yellowknife for about a year, immediately knew what the animal was because her fiancee Rod likes to hunt and had shot one before. Their home has two wolverine pelts hanging on the wall.

She had heard a wolverine had been sighted in the area earlier last week. Last year, she was told a neighbouring child's pet rabbit was kept in a cage outside, but had met a gruesome end.

"A wolverine ripped apart the cage and ate it," said Mayes.

Not sure who to contact, Mayes called her sister-in-law, who told her to call Resources, Wildlife, and Economic Development.

Within 10 minutes a wildlife officer was on scene with a barrel trap. The officer baited the trap with some bits of meat tied into a bag and set it in front of the door, but the wolverine apparently wasn't impressed and refused to come out.

By that time, Mayes' fiancee Rod had come home, and a crowd of curious onlookers had gathered outside.

"My fiancee and I heard something crunching away in the shed," said Mayes. "He must've been living in there for a week because Rod's been cleaning up poops in the shed."

She believes the animal was attracted to the shed by some bones and meat scraps left over from a moose her fiancee had butchered earlier.

After the bag of meat failed to entice the wolverine into the trap, Mayes offered the officer some ciscoes from the freezer, which she twisted into an old sock, and the trap was re-set.

A few hours later, after the officer left and the crowd had dispersed, her fiancee went outside to take a look and found the ciscoes had worked.

"He checked the trap and saw him in there," said Mayes. "You could see the bait moving around in there like a fishing line."

Senior wildlife officer Raymond Bourget said after RWED returned to the home, the wolverine was tranquilized and later driven out on Highway No. 3 and released into the wilderness.

He said it was a young male, about 18 months old. He wasn't sure how much it weighed. Mayes said she was told by the officer on scene that it was about nine kilograms.

Bourget said his office did receive a call about a wolverine in the area last week and had a trap set up nearby, adding that there had been sightings dating back to last winter. Another wolverine was relocated out of Yellowknife last year as well.

He said RWED didn't receive any complaints about a wolverine eating a pet rabbit in the neighbourhood.

Despite their nasty reputation, Bourget said wolverines are not as viscous as some people may think -- although, like any wild animal when cornered, they may become dangerous.

"As a general rule they are shyer animals that stay away from people," said Bourget. "So you're not in danger if you're walking down the road and a wolverine happens to see you, he's not going to come tearing across and attack you."