A bold wolf pack in Banff National Park has been approaching people at dangerously close range, prompting Parks Canada to ask for the public’s help in trying to keep the wolves wild.
Wildlife experts say the wolves approached a cyclist on the Bow Valley Parkway, came close to a person walking a dog by the Bow River and followed workers replacing the AltaLink transmission line between Banff and Lake Louise.
Officials say there may be a host of reasons for the pack’s bold behaviour, noting the wolves may simply be curious and testing situations, have received a food reward, or perhaps are even trying to keep people away from areas around a den site.
“We’ve had over the last few weeks several situations where wolves have come quite close to people, sometimes to within a few metres,” said Steve Michel, human-wildlife conflict specialist for Banff National Park.
“In all these situations, there was no aggression shown by the wolves and they didn’t receive any food rewards. The individuals involved were certainly concerned. It’s not really expected behaviour that you’d have a wolf approaching this close.”
Normally, wolves shy away from developed areas and encounters with people, but this well-known wolf pack has proven to very comfortable in areas of development and high human use over the past year.
Residents and visitors regularly see the pack around the Banff townsite and west to Castle Junction, where there is an abundance of elk and deer for wolves to prey upon. There hasn’t been a pack hunting so close to town for many, many years.
Kills by this pack have led to the closure of several areas around the townsite in order to allow the wolves to feed undisturbed. Just last month, the pack was seen taking down an elk in a dramatic hunt, witnessed by many, on the train overpass at the northeast entrance to town.
The animals were also seen feeding on human food and garbage littered at the Johnston Canyon day use area earlier this year.
Paul Paquet, recognized as one of the world’s leading wolf experts, said the type of behaviour the wolves have been showing in approaching people makes him believe the wolves likely have had other food rewards.
“They’ve probably had access to food – and it might not even be intentional, but people being people leave food behind,” said Paquet, who was part of a major study of wolves in Banff in the 1980s and 1990s.
“Wolves aren’t typically scavengers, but they’re interested and curious and sometimes will investigate where people have been, and if food is available, it becomes a reward and they come back and investigate again.”
In one recent encounter, wolves followed one of the workers on the AltaLink project for quite a distance, while in another incident last weekend one wolf in a group of three wolves approached a cyclist taking a break from a ride on the Bow Valley Parkway.
“The cyclist was certainly afraid of that situation and got on the bike and all three wolves loped after the cyclist for a while,” said Michel.
Michel said a couple of the incidents occurred in areas reasonably close to where he anticipates the wolves are going to be denning.
“Maybe the wolves are about to initiate denning, so there could be a connection,” said Michel. “It could be a possibility that the wolves are trying to escort them out of the area where they want to be denning.”
To protect denning wolves, Parks Canada has now put its annual closure into effect in an area along Bow Valley Parkway between Ranger Creek and the west end of the Hillsdale split, including areas surrounding Hillsdale split, until mid-July. The road is still open to traffic.
Paquet said wolves in the Bow Valley typically begin to den now, noting research has shown wolf pups in the Bow Valley are typically born between mid-April and the start of May.
“There’s a good chance she’s already in the den and the pack is staying more localized at this point,” said Paquet, who is an adjunct professor of biology at the University of Calgary. “They’re going to have pups in the next week to three weeks.”
Paquet said it’s not unheard of for wolves to attempt to escort people away from the area of a den site.
“It’s very possible and I’ve had that happen to me. They are very careful. They would approach, but not too close,” he said.
“Often it will be more than one individual, but not the female because she stays in the den. Other members of the pack, depending on where you are relative to the den, usually give a warning bark.”
Paquet said he hopes the situation for this wolf pack does not escalate further.
“It can sometimes result in aggressive behaviour, or defensive behaviour, depending on how people react,” he said. “I absolutely hope this doesn’t happen with this pack.”
Given the wolves’ lack of wariness towards people, Parks Canada is asking residents and visitors to brush up on carnivore safety.
That includes carrying bear spray, which can be effectively used on wolves, keeping pets on leash and keeping young children close by.
“If a wolf does approach within close range, the person should make themselves look big, and make sure they are not appearing to be prey,” said Michel.
“If you have bear spray and a wolf comes within close range – use it. Otherwise, use any means to be aggressive towards the animal to try to frighten it away,” he added.
“If this is testing behaviour or trying to seek human food, that’s the type of behaviour we need to try to reverse. We could potentially have an actual incident that could be dangerous.”
Parks wildlife management staff are monitoring the wolves on a daily basis.
“We’ve been making attempts to haze them wherever possible when they’re in locations where they shouldn’t be or are approaching too close,” said Michel.
“We’ve only had limited opportunities to do that, whereas the public are encountering wolves on a more regular basis.”
Parks Canada asks that people report all carnivore sightings, including bears and wolves, to Banff National Park dispatch at 403-762-1470.
