In 2012, an approximately two-year old wolf suddenly appeared on Discovery Island, not far from the densely populated municipality of Oak Bay on southern Vancouver Island, BC.
He’d probably dispersed from his birth pack on Vancouver Island and was looking for a mate and territory to call his own. But somewhere along the way, he made a wrong turn and found himself in an urban area. So, perhaps confused or spooked, he swam through challenging waters to a small cluster of islands.
Wolves are highly social animals, so no one thought he’d stay. But, despite all odds, he has. For seven years he’s survived – and thrived – in a location that has no other wolves, no year-round source of water and no deer or other ungulates to hunt.
Cheryl Alexander has followed the journey of the wolf she calls Takaya with her camera and heart for nearly seven years. The renowned wildlife photographer has watched him swim from island to island, seen him feeding on seals and listened to him howl towards the lights of Oak Bay.
On Friday, October 4, the story of this remarkable wolf and woman will air on CBCTV’s The Nature of Things. Takaya: Lone Wolf is an international co-production, which will run on BBC, CBC and ARTE.
Cheryl was a wonderful resource while I was researching Return of the Wolf and I can’t wait to see the documentary featuring her photographs and in-depth knowledge about this unusual wolf.
Return of the Wolf won a Silver Medal in Environment/Ecology at the Independent Publisher Book Awards!
Based in the USA, the annual award honours the best independently published titles from around the world.
Judges include experts in the fields of editing, design, bookselling, reviewing and libraries. Their decisions are based on quality of content, originality, design and production with a special emphasis on innovation, compelling text and social relevance to current times.
A thousand thank yous to everyone at my publisher, Douglas & McIntyre, for the time, energy and support given to the Wolf. And also to the people who so generously contributed their knowledge, experiences and photographs.
A book, especially an award-winning one, is truly a collaborative effort!
Around 1:00 a.m. on August 9, Matt and Elisa Rispoli jolted awake when they felt the side of their tent move violently. Matt assumed it was a black bear so yelled and struck the tent where the animal was pushing on it. The animal bit Matt’s hand and proceed to tear open the tent. As their shelter collapsed around them, Elisa threw herself over the New Jersey couple’s two young sons.
Through the new opening in the tent, Matt saw a wolf about a metre (three feet) away. Then it lunged at him, grabbing him by his upper right arm. Matt, tried to punch the wolf in the throat but that didn’t deter it. As the wolf tugged the police officer out of the tent, his wife grabbed his leg and tried to pull him back.
The screaming woke up the Fees who were camping nearby. Russ’s wife handed him a lantern and he sprinted toward the noise. The Calgary resident saw what looked like a large dog and using the momentum of his run, kicked it in the hindquarters. The animal let go of Matt but didn’t leave.
With blood running down his arm, Matt crawled out of the ruined tent, brandishing a tent pole. The two men threw rocks from the fire circle and yelled at the wolf until it backed off enough for the Rispole family and Russ and his wife to seek sanctuary in the Fee vehicle. The wolf followed Matt but the two men were able to keep it at bay.
Wolves are often wary of people but can be curious or even bold. They have entered tents — with and without people in them — but until this attack at Banff National Park, have always been attracted to food or personal belongings of people — not the people themselves. Although the wolf in this photo taken by Paul Sokoloff on Ellesmere Island did damage the tent, no people were injured.
Both families were badly shaken by the ordeal and Matt is recovering from bite marks and puncture wounds to his hand and arm. The next day a park employee found a wolf about a kilometre (half mile) from the attack site. When he got out of his vehicle the wolf approached him and was shot and killed. DNA revealed it was the wolf that had attacked Matt.
Although wolves have attacked people in two Canadian provincial parks and elsewhere in Canada, this is the first documented wolf attack in a Canadian national park. And the incident has wildlife officials somewhat puzzled. There were no significant attractants in or near the tent at the Rampart Creek Campground and no reports of a food-conditioned or habituated wolf in the area, which are the primary cause of negative human/wolf interactions in North America.
Results of a necropsy described the condition of the wolf as old, extremely emaciated (35 kg/78 pounds) and with worn teeth. Unless further evidence of a conditioned/habituated wolf comes to light, the motivation for this predatory attack appears to be starvation.
The Rispoles and Fee did everything right. They made lots of noise, aggressively fought back and got to a safe place. Based on evidence available at the time of this posting, this was an extremely unusual situation that no one could have foreseen.
Two tools that may have stopped the altercation sooner are bear spray and/or a fixed blade knife. (It’s illegal for anyone other than staff to carry firearms in Banff National Park.)
There have been some complaints about the wolf being shot. But, the reality is, the wolf would have been a danger to any human it encountered. And shooting it meant a quick death, rather than a long, lingering one.
This unfortunate incident is a good reminder to be prepared when in wild areas and that wolves are large, strong predators that can, on occasion, be dangerous to humans.
There are, of course, many differences between wolves and dogs. Some are cognitive, such as a wolf’s willingness to be trained, while others include physical traits such as the predator’s extraordinarily long legs and huge paws.
A lot of physical characteristics have been specifically cultivated in dogs to enhance their appeal to humans. For instance, many people are attracted to dogs with floppy ears and short muzzles so breeders have selectively encouraged these traits. Wolves have these endearing features as pups but, as they mature, their ears become erect and their snouts lengthen.
A recent study found another small but significant difference between wolves and some dogs – their eyebrow muscles.
Whether they own a dog or not, many people are familiar with that sad sack stare some dogs seem to be able to summon at will. This is the look guaranteed to tug firmly on the human heartstrings. And to often foster forgiveness for any transgressions that may have occurred.
This imploring gaze is generated by a dog’s ability to move a prominent muscle that runs along the outer edge of the eye up and inwards.
Dr. Juliane Kaminski, a psychologist at the University of Portsmouth in England, discovered this while trying to understand why some dogs are adopted from animal shelters sooner than others. Apparently, it’s all in the eyes. Those who used their levator anguli oculi medialis muscle were first out the door to a new home.
Researchers then studied the facial musculature of cadavers of several breeds of dogs, as well as those of wild grey wolves. They found a pronounced eyebrow muscle in all of the dogs but not the wolves.
This arctic beauty has a typical wolfish gaze and no sign of sad sack eyes.
Unlike short snouts and floppy ears, the eyebrow muscle was not intentionally introduced by humans but evolved naturally over 20,000 years or more of the human and dog relationship.
Kaminski, who has conducted several studies on the ways humans and dogs communicate, notes that eyebrows play an important role in human body language. And though it’s not known if dogs move their eyebrow muscle on purpose, the result definitely appears to attract humans.
Return of the Wolf won a Silver Medal in Environment/Ecology at the Independent Publisher Book Awards!
the time, energy and support given to the Wolf. And also to the people who so generously contributed their knowledge, experiences and photographs.
