Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - There've been reports of Wolf sightings on Cortes island, which actually isn't too surprising.
 “We're incredibly lucky to have wolves on Cortes. They've disappeared on a lot of the other islands. This is one of the last islands in the Salish Sea with wolves on it. Obviously we want to do everything we can to make sure that they can carry on living here, and that we can coexist alongside them,” explained Helen Hall, Executive Director of the Friends of Cortes Island (FOCI). 
 Christine Robinson added, "In an increasingly busy technological world,  the beauty of wild spaces and wild creatures that are not impacted by human development is increasingly rare and it's a beautiful thing, just a beautiful experience."
 CC: How long have wolves and humans been peacefully coexisting on Cortes Island?
 Christine: "There are stories of some of the early white settlers who were farmers having issues with wolf predation, but really, truly, if we're talking about current times, for the last 40 years.  I'm just pulling that number out of the air, but I would say most of us living on Cortes, as a community,  highly value the wild spaces and the wild creatures. That means working in whatever way we can to coexist. FOCI has done an excellent job of educating the public how to secure animals so that they aren't an attractant to wolves and then potentially create that conflict."
 CC: Tell me about some of the recent sightings 
 Christine: "I live in Whaletown, and have  a keen interest in both wild spaces and wild critters. I'm grateful that we live in a place where we cohabit with wild creatures and so I'm always 'ear to the ground' when I hear stories."
 "Most people  don't  talk about cougar encounters, because cougars are more secretive and they're single animals. We had very few reports of bears this fall, given all the apples. So the stories trickle down to me are about wolf observations, people who are hiking here and there. I actually started to record the observations that people were telling me, so that could be passed on to FOCI and we have a sense of where the wolves are moving on the island. It's helpful for them and it's helpful for humans." 
 "We live very close to the Whaletown Commons, and have a highly energetic dog. We walk the Commons every day with her.  As I started hearing more about people observing the odd wolf off in the distance,  through the forest, we started thinking, 'well, maybe we should actually have her on a leash.' So for the last three and a half weeks, either my husband or I are walking daily through the Commons with our dog on a leash, and we have yet to see a wolf."
 "I would say judging from our dog's behaviour, they are present because she changes. She's more alert. She's just looking around and sniffing more. We have not personally seen wolves in the Commons, but I know other people have within the same space of time that we were there."
 "I always find that interesting.  People often think that wolves may present themselves. If you're one of the fortunate people to actually observe a wolf doing what naturally wild wolves will do, then I'd say you're very, very lucky." 
 "We all learned, through the coexistence with wildlife program that FOCI sponsored, that dogs are a real magnet for wolves. They have a longstanding historical, genetic maybe, dislike of dogs. They may see them as a competitor for food and territory and basically will not tolerate dogs  running freely through an area that they consider part of their wildlife corridor." 
 "Because of the recent activity in the general Whaletown area,  last week I very quickly put up extra notices in all the entrances to the Commons, advising people to not walk through the Commons with their dogs for the time being.  That was in response to several sightings where people felt wolves were close enough that it made them feel uncomfortable. In those cases, there were dogs that were the draw for the wolves."

Cortes Currents

Recent Sightings: Co-existing with wolves on 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."

Wolf Tales From Cortes Island

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