Popular Yellowknife-area hiking trail closed after wolf attack

Wildlife officers are still searching for a wolf that reportedly followed and bit a person who was out walking their dog on a popular trail near Yellowknife.

Yellow caution tape currently blocks the entrance to Ranney Hill, a wilderness trail that's roughly a 15-minute drive from the city. The trail closed Sunday after renewable resource officers responded to reports of the attack.

"Wolf attacks are really rare," said Julian Sabourin, a renewable resources officer with the N.W.T. Department of Environment and Climate Change. "Whenever you're responding to a wildlife attack on a human, the first thing is protecting the public."

He said officers responded to the area Sunday and confirmed the attack took place. They secured the area and put up signage to warn people away for the time being.

The person who suffered the bite is doing well, all things considered, according to Naima Jutha, the territorial government's wildlife veterinarian.

Though wildlife officers are leading the investigation, Jutha supports that by examining injuries and looking for explanations for why an attack took place.

Though the wound in this case wasn't life-threatening, it was still "a significant bite," she said.

"In this case, this animal was not acting like a normal wild wolf, in my opinion. So that adds some unpredictability to the situation," she said.

Jutha said she has a lot of questions that still need to be answered to explain the wolf's behaviour, such as whether the animal was in poor health or diseased, what it has been eating recently and whether it was habituated to humans.

"It helps to alleviate worry, but it also helps us to close that loop on, why did something like this happen?" she said.

Sadie Parr, a wolf expert who has spent 15 years studying the animals in Canada, said the incident sparked many questions for her as well.

She said many human-wolf encounters involve dogs.

"Human-wolf encounters remain extremely rare events, but they do occur as more people are in wolf habitat and we know that more and more people are out there with [their] dogs, too," she said.

"Wolves are typically among the shyest of wildlife ... but that being said, they do view dogs or any canid any member of the dog family as a threatening competitor when they're in their territory."

Sabourin said the investigation is ongoing. After closing the trail, the next step for wildlife officers is usually to start looking for clues like possible animal carcasses in the area or scat.

"Anytime you're going out on the land, just keep in mind as always, be prepared," he said.

Jutha said her advice for the public is to report anything they see that seems abnormal.

"We're so lucky to live in a place where we are surrounded by wilderness and wildlife, and keeping wildlife wild as best as we can, I think, is just so important," she said.