Student's Death Confirmed as Continent's First Fatal Wolf Attack

Chris Purdy , CanWest News Service
Friday, November 02, 2007

SASKATOON -- A coroner's inquest has found that Ontario student Kenton Carnegie was killed by a pack of wolves in northern Saskatchewan two years ago, making it the first documented case of fatal wolf attack in the wild in North America.

Carnegie's parents shook hands and hugged the six jurors, some who were crying Thursday after they delivered their verdict at a Prince Albert hotel. The jurors sat through three days of testimony, looking at graphic photos and listening to disturbing details of how Carnegie was likely attacked and eaten. "I was saying I was sorry to them for what we had to put them through," said Carengie's father, Kim, who is from Oshawa. "They were saying, 'No, don't worry.'"

Carnegie, a 22-year-old engineering student on a work term from the University of Waterloo, was last seen alive as he headed out for an afternoon hike from the Points North Landing supply depot on Nov. 8, 2005. Points North Landing is about 850 kilometres north of Saskatoon.

Two hours later, worried co-workers found the young man mauled to death in the bush, less than a kilometre from the work camp.

Although no one witnessed the attack, searchers and local officials heard wolves howling and saw their glowing eyes in the dark when they went to retrieve the body, which was surrounded by wolf tracks in the snow. Bite marks from wolves were also identified on his remains.

But two animal experts debated during the inquest whether wolves or a bear had first attacked and killed Carnegie.

Paul Paquet, a carnivore expert in Saskatchewan, testified it was likely a black bear. He said the pattern of the attack and the feeding and dragging of the body was consistent with bear behaviour, not wolves.

Mark McNay, a retired wildlife specialist from Alaska, said he had no doubt that wolves killed Carnegie. No bear tracks were found near the body and no bear had been spotted in the area for at least a month. Most adult bears would also have been hibernating at the time.

Now that Carnegie's wolf-related death is official, his father said he hopes people will give up any notion that wolves are cute and cuddly wildlife. "Now people will say, 'Well, what about Kenton Carnegie, the guy who died from a wolf attack?' " said Kim, sobbing and shaking. "We wanted the truth to come out. We wanted the public to be aware."

As well as confirming that a wolves killed the student, the jury also made several recommendations that will be passed onto the Saskatchewan government, including the need to establish safety standards at garbage dumps where predatory animals like wolves and bears are found.

chpurdy@canwest.com
© CanWest News Service 2007  

Killing Wolves to Save Caribou in Alberta and BC

(learn more about the woodland caribou and the mountain caribou)

HELP SAVE THESE WOLVES & CARIBOU!

September 5, 2007
This morning, the BC government announced that it will remove bag limits for wolves in this province in an effort to save the few remaining caribou herds. This move has failed in the past, and is a band-aid solution for what is really a human/caribou problem: caribou are losing their habitat to humans. Wolves are an important predator whose numbers are declining, too. The wolves and the caribou both need our protection.

In British Columbia, wolves, bears, and cougars are under threat for the same reasons:
By Times Review Staff -November 1, 2006

Without some attempt to control the growth of predator populations, British Columbia's beleaguered mountain caribou will continue to decline in numbers, says an expert on the now rarely seen animals.

"There have been complex shifts in the predator-prey system," biologist Bruce McLellan said last Wednesday. "Without some predator management some of the smaller groups will disappear." Responding to questions at last week's conference on bears at the Community Centre about the B.C. government's decision to use a number of different tools - including predator controls - to improve the caribou's survival, he said the shifts have been caused by both "climate change and changes in the (ungulates') habitat."

"We have good data on caribou," McLellan said. "Their numbers are going down fast and the further south you go the faster they're going down." According to Agriculture and Lands Minister Pat Bell the province's mountain caribou population can be preserved in at least part of its remaining Rocky Mountain range without extensive new logging restrictions called for by environmentalists.

Preserving the high-elevation caribou will likely require some dwindling herds to be moved and some predators such as cougars, wolves and bears to be killed, Bell said Tuesday as he released the findings of a two-year study of the endangered animals by scientists from B.C., Alberta and Idaho.

Bell said the population, which had dropped from 2,500 in 2005 to about 1,900 today, has actually increased by 69 animals in the past four years. The population has stabilized in northern areas such as the Hart Ranges east of Prince George, where the herd has increased to more than 700. But the caribou have all but disappeared from some of the province's management zones, with none in the Mount Robson zone on the Alberta border, two in the Kinbasket zone northeast of Revelstoke, and eight in the South Monashee, west of Nelson.

Mountain caribou have become a symbol for environmental groups of depletion of old-growth forests in the region. The Western Canada Wilderness Committee points out that they have disappeared from half of their historic territory.

You can find the full report on the government Website at www.gov.bc.ca.

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Defenders of Wildlife requests your help!

www.savewolves.org

From Alaska to the Greater Yellowstone region, a rising fever to kill wolves from the skies is spreading like a deadly disease. That's why we're launching a nationwide mobilization campaign to pass federal legislation to stop Alaska's brutal killing of wolves from airplanes and helicopters.

Another deadly season of aerial gunning begins in Alaska. Last season, state officials sought to use bounties and helicopters -- this season, they'll target hundreds more wolves; and

Wyoming and Idaho allow wolves to be shot from the air. Even the magnificent Yellowstone wolves could be shot on sight if they wander outside the safety of the park.

Representative George Miller (CA), a conservation champion, will soon introduce legislation in Congress to put an end to Alaska's aerial gunning of wolves -- and stop programs like it from spreading elsewhere. But we need your help to pass this important bill to save the lives of wolves.

In Alaska, gunners in planes seek out wolves to kill. Once spotted, the wolves are shot from the skies or chased to exhaustion in the deep snow, only to be slaughtered at point-blank range once the plane lands.

Over the next month, your generous contribution will help us:

• Talk directly with Members of Congress and their staff. Our wildlife advocates are busy on Capitol Hill, personally reaching out to secure original cosponsors for Congressman Miller's legislation.
  
• Make our voices heard. We're organizing concerned citizens around the nation to urge Congress to put an end to Alaska's aerial gunning of wolves. Already, 30,000 supporters like you have signed petitions to their Representatives to support Rep. Miller's bill. We'll hand-deliver these petitions to Members of Congress.
  
• Get the message out. We're organizing press events, writing editorials, running carefully placed newspaper ads and taking advantage of the latest, cutting-edge strategies online, including web videos on YouTube for the press and public.
  

Donate now and help us raise the $33,500 we need by August 2nd to mobilize hundreds of thousands of people across the country to support federal legislation against the aerial gunning of wolves.

Click here to help Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund end aerial gunning and save wolves.

• Federal lobbying. The new Congress offers a remarkable opportunity to finally spur federal action to end aerial gunning in Alaska. We're already working to introduce and pass legislation to strengthen and clarify the Federal Airborne Hunting Act, the law passed in the 1960s to prevent programs like Alaska's.
• Grassroots mobilization. In Alaska and around the world, we've mobilized hundreds of thousands of dedicated activists in opposition to Alaska's aerial gunning. Working with local conservationists and sportsmen, along with our sister organization, Defenders of Wildlife, we'll also do everything in our power to support an upcoming state-based ballot initiative to restrict aerial gunning once again.

HELP ALASKA'S WOLVES! SIGN THE PETITION

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Bush Administration's Wolf-Killing Plans
February 2008 Natural Resources Defence Council (NRDC)

For the second time in a month, the Bush Administration has taken aim at endangered wolves in Greater Yellowstone and the Northern Rockies.

Yesterday the administration announced plans to strip the region's 1,500 wolves of protection under the Endangered Species Act. Just last month, the administration handed down a new License to Kill rule that would allow Wyoming and Idaho to slaughter hundreds of wolves by hunting, trapping and aerial gunning.

Our partner organization, the Natural Resources Defense Council, has already filed suit in federal court to block the License to Kill rule. And NRDC responded immediately to this news by announcing a second lawsuit that will challenge the plan to drop wolves from the endangered species list.

Meanwhile, the NRDC Action Fund is responding by stepping up our mobilization campaign by sounding the media alarm and building unstoppable public pressure on Congress to take action in defense of America's wolves.

If you haven't done so already, you can tell your own Representative to oppose the Bush Administration's wolf-killing plans here: http://www.nrdconline.org/campaign/Act_Now_To_Protect_Gray_Wolves_012008

And your donation will enable us to keep running our wolf-saving ad in national newspapers: https://secure.nrdconline.org/08/wolves_printad_nytimes

The Bush Administration has launched this newest attack on wolves despite the opposition of hundreds of thousands of Americans . . . despite the objection of leading wildlife biologists . . . and despite the fact that wolves have NOT fully recovered in the Northern Rockies.

Stripping wolves of their federal protection will leave them at the mercy of states that are ready to launch wolf extermination campaigns at the behest of special interests, including livestock ranchers and elk hunting outfitters.

By unleashing this wolf-killing machine, the Bush Administration threatens to destroy one of the greatest success stories of the Endangered Species Act: the return of the gray wolf to Yellowstone and its surrounding wildlands.

We must not let that happen! I know you'll continue standing with us in the critical weeks ahead as we go all-out to ensure a future for America's wolves.

Sincerely,

Frances Beinecke
President
NRDC Action Fund

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Six injured in rare wolf attack
The Canadian Press
SAULT STE. MARIE (Sep 7, 2006)

A lone wolf that attacked six people, including several young children, in a provincial park over the long weekend has tested negative for rabies, the Algoma Health Unit said yesterday.

The wolf, which has been blamed for several separate attacks Monday at the popular Katherine's Cove beach on Lake Superior was shot by park staff.

The wolf had a broken clavicle and tooth when it was shot following the attacks, which may explain its abnormal behaviour, said health unit inspector Bob Frattini. "Wolves work in packs and not individually, and it was probably ostracized," Frattini said.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency plans to conduct further testing on the wolf's body to try and find other possible causes for the attacks, which left several families injured and badly shaken.

The attack on the Wright family occurred on Bathtub Island, a large rocky area within wading distance of the mainland and about 100 metres south of Katherine's Cove. Brenda Wright, on a day trip with her sister-in-law, two children and their cousins, aged 10 and 13, said her family was probably attacked first. Park officials say they aren't sure about the order of the attacks.

Her son, Casey, 12, noticed a black, doglike animal running across the beach. She said the animal nipped the ankle of her 13-year-old nephew, Jake, then clamped down on her son's buttock, carrying him about half a metre before dropping him and lunging at her. The wolf's teeth tore into her hands and her leg as she fought back and the group raced into the shallow swimming area. Wright said the wolf followed them, this time going after Emily Travaglini-Wright, 14.

"(Emily) was a real fighter. . . She got mostly claws in her head and her arm," her mother said. Alerted by the screams, two strangers raced over and managed to scare off the wolf. As families hid in the trees, the wolf returned minutes later and rifled through their picnic stashes.

For Jerry and Rachel Talbot, it started at around 4 p.m. The Wawa, Ont., couple, on their way to a wedding in Sudbury, with granddaughters Leah, 3, and Madison, 5, pulled off Highway 17 for a quick swim at a popular picnic area in Lake Superior Provincial Park.

According to park staff, more than a dozen others were enjoying the end of the Labour Day weekend at Katherine's Cove when the Talbot family wandered onto the beach and began to remove their shoes. Jerry Talbot noticed a black animal chasing a girl across the sand. Too slow for the girl, the animal veered off and grabbed a slower, smaller target: Leah. It clamped its jaws around the blond toddler's left upper arm and began dragging her away from her grandmother and sister. The girl was dragged about six metres before the wolf dropped her on her back, startled by the shrieks of her grandparents and those who had jumped in to help. Leah started to run, but she was in sand and she was in shock.

The wolf grabbed the hood of the little girl's black jacket. This time, Rachel Talbot's advances and screams caused the wolf to drop the girl momentarily and she lunged forward, scooped up the child and raced to her vehicle. Jerry Talbot and Madison were close behind.

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