Timber Wolves (1 Viewer)

[Yve_M]

While sitting out on the deck enjoying a glorious spring day (+12C) where all the feathers are emptying my feeders at a phenominal rate I glanced across the lake. Two dark shapes were trotting along the opposite edge. Grabbed my bins and raced down to the edge of the ice. Absolutely beautiful pair of Timber Wolves. I'm assuming they were a male an female but unable to tell from the distance. We tried a few howls but they ignored us and headed into the bush. The direction they were going is towards a lake that has a small herd of Caribou residing there. Sure made my 'birding' day.

 

[Tammie]

It would make my day too Eve. Bet the caribou weren't nearly as happy to see them, though! I see all kinds of tracks around here but seldom see the actual animal.

 

[Paul 42]

You can’t imagine how exciting that sounds to us Western Europeans, Eve. Shades of Jack London!! That must have been a thrilling sight.

 

[Edward]

Wow, I would love to see Wolves in the wild. What's the general attitude to Wolves in Canada? Do people shoot them or are they protected?

I try not to let my (infrequent) sightings of Arctic Foxes go too far in Iceland because there is a general belief that Arctic Foxes (not much bigger than the average Tabby cat) will eat your children and rape your wives and as such are generally shot on sight.

p.s. Paul, great new avatar you have there!

 

[Tammie]

Shoot Arctic Foxes?! That's terrible!! I would dearly love to see one of those in winter fur. They are absolutely stunning animals. I'm amazed they have such a nasty reputation. It never occurred to me!
Wolves aren't so much shot here as they have been trapped for fur. I'm not sure if that still happens often or not. I think most people have a healthy respect for them. At least, I hope so. They are really something to see in the wild and I don't get to see them nearly as much as I'd like.

 

[Edward]

I'm glad to hear that Wolves are healthily respected. People here complain that Arctic Foxes are destructive to bird life and are amazed that I, as a supposed "bird-lover" (a term I hate. I'm someone very interested in wildlife, love has nothing to do with it), am against the indiscriminate shooting of foxes. I support the eradication of Mink in Iceland because it's an introduced species and totally unsuited to this eco-system but what do people really expect Arctic Foxes to eat if not birds???? That's what they were designed to do.
The remaining Wolves in Europe don't enjoy a good reputation and in a recent case in Norway a pack of feral dogs attacked and killed a child. Although it could be proven that it was domestic dogs which were responsible, centuries of hatred meant that the local Wolf pack was wiped out instead. Depressing stuff.

 

[Tammie]

That truly is depressing! I wonder if the day will ever come that these beautiful animals (wolves & foxes) will be able to live in peace without the undeserved reputations that both carry. I regularly feed red foxes here in my yard (pictures on my website). They are definitely one of my all time favorite critters! I would never dare try to get that close to a wolf of course (like one would ever let me in the first place!) but they are still mysterious and wonderful animals.
Arctic Foxes don't eat only birds... they also eat mice and other rodents. That's part of the reason why I enjoy having the red ones here... keeps the mouse population down in my yard!

 

[T0ny]

I've suggested that Timber Wolves are introduced to the UK to keep down Canada Geese. So far, no-one seems to agree with me ...

Tony

 

[Yve_M]

Hi Edward. That is a bit of a difficult question. Most people who live in the southern parts have no experience with wolves except to believe that they are vicious Man Eating Predators. They really a pretty elusive and will not show themselves to you if they know you are around, whereas our local Lynx will sit on the side of the road and people watch just like we watch birds. They are pretty curious cats. The wolf too will leave you alone. Here in the north they are hunted by local trappers. These trappers will often bait them to lure them for American hunters. Our government sells a number of licences per year for these hunters. This baiting is illegal but the money they can make is so tempting. The trappers also sell these furs to licenced buyers for approximately $500.00 It takes three wolf pelts to make a coat. It is the same for the black bear. There is a spring hunt and a fall hunt for these and I think there are a few thousand licences sold every year. Our local fur buyer/trading post does over half a million dollars in fur sales a year.

TOny, that sounds like a downright splendid idea, how many do you want? They are pretty efficient, when they have cleaned up your little goose problem, what are you going to feed them?

 

[T0ny]

Eve,
I've no doubt a source of animal protein could be found - mink, squirrels, egg-thieves, traders in endangered species, vandals, politicians, profiteers - could be cheaper than divorce, too ...

Tony

 

[Tammie]

Around here, they cancelled the spring bear hunt a number of years ago and there aren't that many trappers left either. We used to get overrun with hunters in the spring but now it's nice and quiet. They're here for moose hunting in the fall and that's about it. We do see more lynx now than ever before which is wonderful. We came up over a hill last spring and found a mother lynx with 3 babies! Never saw that before. We also saw a mother black bear with 4!! babies! Never saw THAT before either!

 

[Yve_M]

Paul, Edward, You are welcome to visit the wild of Northern Canada anytime. We'll try and rustle up some of the local wildlife for you and I don't mean the local finest outside the Zoo at 2:am.
(translation: persons of various level of intoxication outside the local bar when it closes)

TOny, I like the way you think! LOL