Dorothy Westerman
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Sep 23/05) - A pack of seven wolves travelling the Ingraham Trail is no threat to human safety, according to a senior wildlife officer.

"It's not uncommon to have wolves there and we're not concerned people's safety," said Raymond Bourget of the department of Environment and Natural Resources.

Raymond Bourget, senior wildlife officer with the department of Environment and Natural Resources said a pack of seven timber wolves has been spotted near the Ingraham Trail. - Dorothy Westerman/NNSL photo

But the wolves do pose a threat to pets, Bourget cautioned.

"If people leave their dogs tied out in the yard or loose, there is the potential for them to get into a fight with the wolves and the wolves to kill them."

He recommended keeping dogs in a pen or inside at night.

When a resident of the Ingraham Trail was contacted by Yellowknifer, he said he has heard of a large timberwolf being spotted between the Yellowknife River bridge and the Dettah turn off.

"We're there on the weekends now, but I haven't seen any yet this year," Brad Heath said.

As the owner of two dogs, Heath said they have a chain link kennel to ensure their pets' safety.

Wolves and their pups were first sighted earlier this summer at the Yellowknife River, Bourget said.

"The wolves have since been reported at a number of locations," he said, including Reid Lake and most recently, Prelude East and Prosperous Lake.

"We've had packs of wolves sighted around Dettah or the Yellowknife area for the past number of years."

At this time of year, Bourget said the wolves are on the search for food such as muskrat, beaver and hares or birds.

"They are travelling up and down the Ingraham Trail and using it as a transportation corridor as they look for food," Bourget said.

Wolves in general are good travellers, Bourget noted.

"They can trot quite comfortably at about 30 km/h. If you catch a wolf in Yellowknife and move it to the end of the Ingraham Trail, it can be back here at the end of the day."

Bourget said the wolves are wary of human contact, but accustomed to vehicle traffic. "They tend to ignore vehicles but if you walk towards them, then they run away," he said.

Grey in colour, Bourget said the wolves range in size and age from about six-month-old pups the size of a Border Collie to two-year-old adults weighing about 25 kilos.

Several larger adult wolves in the pack are about 50 kilos in size, he said.

To hunt a wolf requires a licence. Wolves may be hunted or trapped between Aug. 15-May 31.

There is a no-shooting corridor on the Ingraham Trail up to Powder Point along the Ingraham Trail.