Wolf Tales From Cortes Island

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - Cortes Island's wildlife coexistence programs can be traced back to human/wolf conflicts in 2009. Local biologist Sabina Leader Mense reached out to Bob Hansen, then wildlife-human conflict specialist with Pacific Rim National Park Reserve. The Cortes Community Wolf Project is modelled on the Wild Coast program that Hansen had been running in the Pacific Rim for more than a decade. Hansen and Conservation Officer Ben York helped Sabina write 'Learning to Live with Wolves on Cortes Island,' a five-point primer which FOCI endorses and posts throughout the community.

Hansen returned to Cortes at Sabina’s invitation, for the first time since 2011, on February 3. He gave a workshop on electric fences and a demonstration on using bear spray at Linnaea Farm. There were also a lot of ‘wolf stories’ and new information. 

Hansen talked about the dynamic lives that wolves lead; lives influenced by prey abundance, distribution, seasonality and where in their breeding cycle they are: mating, denning, rearing pups. There is no predicting when/ where wolves will be at any given time; i.e. no management of wild wolves. We can only manage ourselves!

Bob Hansen: “They're (the wolves) studying us way more than we're studying them. If they're around a lot, they're going to know exactly where you are and exactly where the dogs are at all times that they're anywhere close to you. They spend every day of their lives trying to figure us out and file away our reactions when we encounter them. They've created their own culture of coexistence, they behave the way we teach them to behave. They'll be teaching their pups how to coexist.” 

Sabina Leader Mense: “My real takeaway from what Bob has said just over the last couple of days that he's been here, is the onus is really on us to behave in ways that do not put wolves at risk.”

Bob said “the wolves take their cues from us.” So no interactions with wolves; no gawking to look or take a photograph; keep wolves wary of humans at all times.

The Cortes Wolf Primer states, “when you encounter them (wolves) in a residential area i.e. near your home, your neighbour's, the community halls, stores, schools etc, wave your arms to make yourself look bigger, shout loudly and use noisemakers. Let the wolves know, in no uncertain terms, that they need to respect you and you will not tolerate their presence in this place!! Use your most aggressive body language; take on the alpha role.”

Bob Hansen: “That’s what we call hazing. You're teaching them to stay wary. If they stay wary, they're going to stay alive. If they lose their wariness, then anything could happen.” 

Cortes Currents: Do you have any idea how many wolves there are on Cortes right now.

Sabina Leader Mense: “We have identified 7 adults with their pups of the year. They won't all stick together with the pups anymore. The pups are old enough, they're hunting with groups of adults. There will be four wolves here, two there, three here. Maybe that's what we're seeing with single day sightings coming in from Squirrel Cove, Whaletown, and the south end.” 

Bob Hansen: “What we've seen over the years is that when the prey (even a good sized black tailed deer) tends to be smaller, two wolves can clean it up in a couple of days. Even a single wolf can take down a deer given the right situation. So they don't need to travel as a large pack.” 

"If it wasn't for the cameras, we wouldn't realize that there's a large pack, but they now have cameras in some of the spots where they socialize and rendezvous. They'll go off and hunt and then they'll howl and come back together at a rendezvous site. They'll get reacquainted and then they'll go off in their separate directions again. If they aren't socializing and aren't sleeping, they're traveling and hunting."