Wild canines spotted in the city
Animals attracted by garbage,' says renewable resources officer
Evan Kiyoshi French
Northern News Services
Friday, April 1, 2016
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Courtney Jung was driving home from work about a week ago when she spotted a large canine wandering down Finlayson Drive. The Mildred Hall School teacher said she initially thought the huge creature was a wolf but concluded it was in fact a coyote.
Courtney Jung spotted this coyote on Finlayson Drive while driving home from work on March 23. Sightings of wolves and coyotes around Yellowknife are getting people talking this year. - photo courtesy of Courtney Jung |
"It was huge," she said. "I thought it was a wolf but people always think they're wolves when they're actually coyotes. Wolves are much bigger."
She said she pulled over and lowered her car window so she could snap shots of the beast as it nosed around in the snow. She said it looked right at her before continuing on its way.
"He didn't care at all," she said, adding a word of caution to dog owners.
"People should be careful with their dogs," she said. "I've heard they can be pretty vicious even with larger dogs when they're hungry."
Adrian Lizotte, a renewable resources officer with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, said there have not been more wolf and coyote reports this year than in years past.
"We haven't really received more sightings reports but that being said this time of year with the longer daylight hours and the warmer temperatures, people are outside more so that's why if you're getting more reports then that's generally a good reason why," said Lizotte.
Although Yellowknifer Jan Fullerton hasn't seen any wild canines herself this year, she has heard of at least two recent wolf sightings at the outskirts of the city.
She said a man walking the trail behind Parker Park, near the fence bordering the Yellowknife Airport, saw two wolves as he rounded a corner on the trail. Another man riding a snowmobile on the same trail encountered a pair of wolves and stopped his machine, according to Fullerton. When he tried to back up, said Fullerton, the snowmobile got stuck in the snow. As he was trying to free it, he noticed another set of wolves had moved onto the trail behind him, she said.
"(He) was able to make noise to scare the wolves away," she said.
Lizotte said ENR officers have not been able to confirm the presence of wolves around the city this year but said people often mistake coyotes for their larger cousins.
"Wolves are just generally bigger in size. The wolves up in this area are generally white with black mixed in within their fur. Coyotes tend to be a little more tawny brown," said Lizotte. "They're just a bit bigger than your standard house dog. Wolves can be up to 100 pounds."
Lizotte said residents should report wild canine sightings and be wary of their dens.
"If you see a den, it's nice to give our office a call and make a report of that," he said. "You need to make sure your dogs are on leashes and you need to make yourself look as big as possible and scary as possible. Don't back down
and run away."
He said he has seen what appear to be wolf dens in the Jackfish Lake area and the department has received reports about wolves in that area in the past. The department hasn't seen evidence suggesting the wolves and coyotes are interacting, he said, but reports from southern Canada confirming that wolves and coyotes are interbreeding have officers on the lookout for evidence of that in the North as well.
Lizotte said foxes - the other wild canines known to frequent the area - will follow their larger cousins in the hope of scavenging from their kills.
"People in the community need to be really diligent about their garbage and make sure it's securely contained. They can't be over filling dumpsters," he said. "That's just going to attract the animals to the neighbourhood. That's going to create a high-risk situation if that's the case."
