YOHO – An adult female wolf was stuck and killed on the busy Trans-Canada Highway while wildlife staff tried to move her to safety on the other side of the wildlife exclusion fence.
After getting several reports of a lone wolf on the wrong side of the highway fence near the B.C.-Alberta border on the morning of June 10, Parks Canada wildlife crews tried to get the animal back to the safe side the fence.
“Unfortunately, when they were trying to open gates to let it get back out, it bolted across the highway and was struck by a vehicle,” said Jon Stuart-Smith, a human-wildlife coexistence specialist for Lake Louise, Yoho and Kootenay.
“It’s definitely unfortunate … because obviously we’re trying to do as much as we can to protect them,” he added, noting wolves can be a little more skittish than dealing with bears.
According to Parks Canada, there was no indication of any holes in the wildlife fence or gates left open.
“Given that the end of the fence is only a few kilometres to the west, it’s likely that it walked along the highway, although we don’t know that for sure,” said Stuart-Smith.
The night before on June 9, a lone wolf was also spotted by the side of the highway near the turnoff to Emerald Lake west of Field. Parks Canada suspects it was the same animal.
“One of our staff, a student, had seen it in that area and it was alone at that time,” said Stuart-Smith.
“We think that it’s likely the same animal that was struck on the highway.”
One Facebook post by Canmore’s Amy Puzey, reported seeing what it believed to be the same wolf in Yoho National Park.
“He walked up as we were stopped beside the highway and seemed to have no fear of us at all,” she wrote.
“Looked quite thin, and no pack around.”
In the case of this wolf, Parks Canada isn’t sure if the unwary lone wolf was unhealthy, or had been attracted roadside after getting a taste of human food.
Stuart-Smith said there are plans to do a necropsy, which is a surgical examination of dead animals.
“That may give us some indication if there as any unnatural foods in its digestive tract,” he said.
“We don’t really have any idea if it had been fed at this point, so we’re waiting to get that necropsy done to try to answer those questions.”
At this time of year, it would be uncommon to see a female wolf on her own. Parks suspects this wolf may have been an older animal.
“It is a bit unusual because normally they would be in a pack; it’s more normal for a lone male to be around at this time of year,” said Stuart-Smith.
Whether something happened to the rest of the pack, or she was pushed out is unknown, but Stuart-Smith said it’s feasible she could have been pushed out if she’s an older female.
“An older female, if she is less able to contribute to the hunt, to foraging for food, they may get to the point where they push her off as well,” he said.
“It is not as common as it would be for a male. I think that’s more usual in males because males are fighting for dominance.”
Also on June 10, two black bears were struck on park highways at about 7 p.m. One was hit at the western end of Yoho National Park near Finn Creek, and the other on Highway 93 South, about one kilometre north of Hector Gorge in Kootenay National Park. The bear struck on the unfenced portion of the Trans-Canada in Yoho was euthanized because of its injuries.
Two days earlier, another black bear, weighing about 30 pounds, was run over and killed in Kootenay National Park near Marble Canyon.
“That one was a very small brown-coloured black bear that a number of people had seen roadside over the weeks prior to this,” said Stuart-Smith.
In late May, the alpha male of the Bow Valley pack was hit and killed on the Trans-Canada about 1.5 kilometres west of the Banff townsite overlooking Third Vermilion Lake.
Any sightings of wildlife on the highway should be reported to 403-762-1470.
