A killing in Canada puts an end to the myth that wolves won't harm humans.
Feb 28, 2006
Too Many Wolves
Instead of responding with an education campaign, Wayne Galloway would rather see Saskatchewan open a hunting season on wolves. He says the attacks on Carnegie and Desjarlais may be aberrant, but they're predictable.
"We have too many wolves, and they have depleted their natural prey to such an extent that they're seeking alternative food sources," says Galloway, who operates a fishing and hunting lodge about 70 miles north of La Ronge. Galloway had his own wolf incident last fall. His 70-pound Airedale was killed and consumed by a wolf just 30 feet from his cabin door.
"That wolf was starving. It ate all but the ribcage and part of a hindquarter," says Galloway. "If it had been a human instead of a dog, the human probably would have been in trouble."
In Saskatchewan wolves are classified as furbearers, which allows trappers to harvest them but prohibits anyone from shooting them. The province has about 3,000 licensed trappers who annually harvest about 400 wolves.
"Nobody traps up here anymore," says Topping. "The Indians don't shoot wolves like they used to and numbers just keep increasing."
Galloway started outfitting in 1982 and claims there were no wolves in the area at the time. Gradually he saw more and more wolf sign and fewer moose. Only 30 percent of his hunters have tagged moose in the last five years, and he blames wolves for their depletion.
"There's very little hunting pressure on moose and we have millions of acres of prime habitat," says Galloway. "Their decline coincided with the arrival of wolves. What else could cause their decline but wolves?"
Game densities are even lower to the north, in the Wollaston Lake area near Points North Landing.
"There isn't even a rabbit up there," stews Galloway. "So any predators up there are hungry. It's no wonder they find the dumps. Wolves aren't naturally garbage eaters, and it takes years of associating people with easy food to break their fear."
Trottier agrees, but he doesn't think the answer to what he terms a localized problem is a province-wide wolf-hunting season. "There are thousands of wolves in the province that have never seen a human or become habituated," Trottier says. "Their population is in balance with their prey base. There's no indication those wolves are creating any difficulty and they pose no threat."
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