It’s an extremely rare occurrence, but just in the past two months there have been two occasions of people being chased by wolves.
about a kilometre down the highway, here only metres away
© Tim Bartlett
In June, in Kootenay National Park in British Columbia, a motorcyclist was chased for about a kilometre down the highway by a wolf.
Tim Bartlett was riding on Highway 93 when he swerved to avoid a wolf who’d come into the road.
Further down the road he pulled out his camera and went back to the spot. The wolf had jumped over a concrete barrier and he thought it had gone. When arrived back at the spot however, the wolf jumped back over and began chasing him.
Bartlett said the wolf gave a real burst of speed intitially, then as he gauged his speed, the animal then loped beside him.
Afte a kilometer or so, Bartlett sped ahead about 100 metres. The wolf stopped in the road then headed into the bush.
Michelle Maculo of Parks Canada said the wolf behavior is not normal. She said its rare to even see a wolf let alone be chased by one.
“It’s likely that this animal is habituated, so what that means is this animal has lost some of its natural fear of humans… so it’s definitely cause for concern for us,” she said.
The area has attracted wolves in the past because people were feeding them.
Meanwhile, an American bicyclist had the scare of his life on the Alaska Highway in the Yukon last week. Mac Hollan and two friends are cycling from Idaho to Alaska to raise money for charity.
Mac Hollan who was chased by a
wolf on the highway outside
Watson Lake, Yukon, this month
About 100 kilometres west of Watson Lake, Hollan’s friends had stopped for repairs while he rode on ahead.
He said when he heard breathing behind him, he though one of his friends was riding hard to catch up. When he looked back, he saw “the biggest damn dog I have ever seen “
He realized it was a wolf as it got close enough to snap at his foot on the pedal, narrowly missing
His adrenalin kicked in and he pulled ahead just enough to be able to reach into a bag for bear spray, giving a good squirt right in the wolf’s face.
“And he backed up about 20 feet and I thought he was going to stop,” he said.
But the wolf ran back and attacked a bag on the bicycle, ripping it open. Hollan sprayed again and the animal dropped back but kept pace with the bike. Four cars passed before a motor home stopped allowing him to jump inside.
The wolf then chewed the bags on the abandoned bike, until other cars stopped and a number of people shouting and waving arms chased the wolf back into the bush.
Nothing like this has happened in the Yukon before, said Ramona Maraj, the territory’s carnivore biologist. Wolves may be inclined to chase bikes and vehicles just as some dogs are, said Maraj, adding however that it is “incredibly rare,”.
“That behaviour has to come from somewhere. And so wolves have that same disposition to chase things.”
Hollan and his companions have final destination is Prudhoe Bay, Alaska.
To learn more about their journey, visit http://www.pointtobay.com.
For reasons beyond our control, and for an undetermined period of time, our comment section is now closed. However, our social networks remain open to your contributions.