The wolves have arrived
Here I sit at the computer at 04:15 a.m., after laying in bed stewing about wolves for the past hour or so. A dozen or so domestic dogs have been killed by wolves within a few miles of here the past couple of winters, and wolves came by last night while Kayla and Monty were in the pen. I didn’t see them, but Monty only barks at grizzlies and wolves and is almost never wrong – Kayla’s very aggressive barking put us on alert, and when Monty added his incredibly deep bark the hair stood up on the back of my neck.
I love wolves. In 1998 I wrote a lengthy article about wolf kill programs in Alaska and the Yukon entitled “Power vs Dignity: The Wolf in Alaska & the Yukon” that discusses a lot of the political and emotional reasons for killing wolves.
Although not on the scale of Alden West’s winter camping encounter with wolves, I spent some time with a wolf family in Denali Park in 2005 (photo below), and it remains one of my most memorable wilderness experiences. But I’ve also had several encounters with wolves who were hunting my huskies, and then my love for wolves is overshadowed by my love for my dogs.
On a mid-winter hike down frozen Lake Bennett in about 2001, a pack of wolves followed us, staying at the edge of the forest while we were a few hundred yards out on the lake – fascinating and thrilling, but a little unnerving as well, for the dogs as well as me. But I understood the dynamics of the situation and was confident that we were safe – huskies in a pen at night are a very different situation.
In Carcross I had taken several precautions against a pack who were regular visitors to the cabin in recent years – the wire on the dog pen got raised to 8+ feet high, I put spotlights on the pen, Kayla and Kodi spent less time in the pen, and there was a rifle close to the window that overlooked the pen. Now I’m going over and over that list, and as soon as it’s light will be getting to work on the parts of it that apply here.
Most of the dogs who have been killed in this area so far have been running loose or in one case on a chain with no protection, but I know of a case down towards Atlin where a dog was taken from an 8-foot high pen (many years ago), so it can happen. We’re within the city limits of Whitehorse now, but this is city life, Yukon style.
About The Author
