A killing in Canada puts an end to the myth that wolves won't harm humans.
Feb 28, 2006
Junkyard Dogs
Points North's garbage dump, like those at the mine sites and communities across the north, can be an easy source of food for wolves, black bears, porcupines, hares and other wildlife, says
Tim Trottier, wildlife biologist for Saskatchewan Environment and Resource Management in La Ronge.
According to Trottier, the wolves that killed Carnegie were acting less like wild timber wolves and more as opportunistic junkyard dogs. He is still surprised that they would stalk and kill a person but realizes they had become accustomed to living around humans and feeding on their refuse.
"These wolves lived in a very unnatural state, so it's not that surprising that they might behave unnaturally," says Trottier. "We don't consider this a widespread problem in Saskatchewan. It's localized abnormal behavior associated with these dump sites."
But Carnegie's death isn't the only incident that involves garbage-dump wolves in Saskatchewan's hinterland. In January 2005, at a mine site less than 100 miles south of Points North, a 55-year-old Saskatoon man was attacked by a wolf at night as he jogged two miles from the Key Lake mine to the gated bunkhouse compound.
In the distance between the outposts, Fred Desjarlais reportedly heard a noise behind him and turned to see a lone wolf circling. After a brief standoff, the wolf lunged at Desjarlais's head, fell to the ground and then sprang a second time. The wolf gripped the man's back and started biting his shoulder.
The jogger told reporters that his heavy winter clothing prevented the wolf from doing serious damage, but his back suffered deep punctures and bruises. Unable to pull down Desjarlais, the wolf turned its attention to the man's waist and lower body, biting the pelvic area before Desjarlais managed to grab the animal and put it in a headlock. Coworkers returning to the camp on a shuttle bus spotted Desjarlais and came to his aid. The wolf ran off into the woods. It was shot the next day.
Wolves around the Key Lake mine had been notorious garbage hounds for more than a decade. They were also brazen. In 1984, a wolf snapped at the sleeve of a worker in an attempt to steal his lunch. Last year a pack denned just a quarter mile from the camp's gate. And during a visit to Key Lake just after the Desjarlais attack, Trottier counted 18 wolves on a ridge above the dump site, waiting for the garbage to arrive.
"To have that many wolves at one place in the winter is highly unnatural," says the biologist. "In the wild, you might have six or eight wolves in a pack by the end of the winter, traveling a huge area to get enough to eat. These wolves didn't consider humans a threat so much as a food source. But habituated wolves still have the characteristics and instincts of large predators, and that spells problems for people."
In response to the Key Lake attack, Trottier's agency worked with the mine to clean up the dump and discourage wolves from loitering nearby. Visitors and camp staff are educated about wolves and, so far at least, wolves are keeping a healthy distance, though people still don't roam the area alone.
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