Famed wolf killed on Trans-Canada Hwy

-Rocky Mountain Outlook
The death of a dominant female wolf whose image is famously splashed across one of Banff’s public transit buses is a blow to the Bow Valley pack, but wolf experts suspect the pack will bounce back.
Delinda, the five-year-old striking, black Alpha female of the Bow Valley pack pictured on one of the Roam buses, was killed by a vehicle on the Trans-Canada Highway near Redearth Creek, about 10 km west of Banff on Monday (Aug. 25).

Wolf experts say the death of the Alpha female is a setback for the pack, but say her two pups are probably old enough to survive without her, although it is much more difficult without her.

Paul Paquet, who holds a PhD in zoology from the University of Alberta and is an internationally recognized authority on wolves, said there are other wolves nearby that may move into the pack.

“That said, it’s pretty devastating because it causes a lot of social disruption on a pack,” said Paul Paquet, who holds a PhD in

zoology from the University of Alberta and is an

internationally recognized authority on wolves.

“It is very, very disruptive because it takes time to reorganize the pack, and in many cases, they have to recruit another female because that pack may largely be comprised of younger animals.”

According to park statistics, 38 wolves have been killed on the roads and railway in Banff, Yoho and Kootenay since 1998. An additional 12 have been killed on provincial lands just outside the eastern boundary of Banff National Park.

As for the Bow Valley pack, there is

thought to be about nine members remaining, including two pups born this year and six yearlings produced the year before. Delinda’s mate, the Alpha male of the pack, is known as Nanuk.

Banff Mayor John Stutz said he was particularly saddened to learn it was the same wolf pictured on one of the town’s ROAM buses.

“That’s tragic and it has affected me deeply,” said Mayor Stutz, who actually saw the dead wolf a short time after it was hit. “The fact that it’s the one on our bus, well that will be a lasting tribute.”

Wardens were quick to the scene last Monday, immediately scouring the area for any signs of a hole in the fencing that aims to keep wildlife from getting onto the deadly highway.

Parks Canada officials say they plan to step up inspections of the wildlife fence in the area, adding a hole was found about one kilometre from where the wolf was hit on the road.

Steve Michel, Banff’s human-wildlife conflict specialist, said remote cameras picked up the wolf using the Redearth Creek overpass around 5 a.m. earlier that day, then traveling through a nearby underpasses twice, the last time around 12:30 p.m..

“Park staff did locate one section of fence that was damaged within a couple of

kilometres of the location – and that’s been subsequently repaired – but we’re not sure if that might have been where she got through or not,” he said.

“We also know this particular wolf has accessed the highway on a number of occasions by crossing cattle guards, so she’s fairly capable of getting onto the highway if she wants to.”

Michel said park staff were saddened by the wolf’s death.

“It’s always upsetting any time we have a wildlife mortality, let alone when sensitive species like a wolf is killed, particularly such a prominent member of the pack,” he said.

“It’s even more concerning for us when it takes place on the Trans-Canada Highway where we have spent so much money on mitigations to reduce wildlife mortality. Obviously it’s never going to 100 per cent, even though we’d like it to be.”

John E. Marriott, a Bow Valley wildlife photographer who took the images of Delinda for Banff’s ROAM bus, was called in by park wardens to help identify the dead animal.

He said he hoped it was not Delinda when he got the call, but when he discovered it was the same wolf he had spent countless hours photographing, a deep feeling of sadness washed over him.

“I still do feel like I lost a good friend. The opportunity to get to know a wolf and photograph her like I got to with Delinda is extremely rare in wildlife photography,” he said.

“I had not gotten good wild wolf shots in my entire career up until Delinda moved into the Bow Valley and raised the pack to what it is today. I’m now not sure I’ll ever get as close to a pack and an alpha wolf again, and that saddens me, more from a personal viewpoint as a wildlife lover than a professional one as a wildlife photographer.”

Marriott said he almost drove off the road the first time he saw Delinda in June 2007.

He said she stood in the middle of the road, then sat down and stared at him in his vehicle, eventually coming to within 20 feet.

“As I crept out and knelt beside my door, the wolf strolled up beside me so closely that my lens wouldn’t focus,” he said.

“I had spent much of my career dreaming of moments like this, of coming face to face with a wild wolf. Little did I expect an encounter so intimate that I was unable to photograph it.”

Gunther Bloch, a long-time Canmore resident who closely watched the wolves of the Bow Valley over the past 17 years, described Delinda as “very extraordinary wolf, very focused and very gentle and supportive”.

He said he remembers watching her tend to her injured six-month-old pup in 2006, after it had been struck by a vehicle. Delinda came into the pack around three years ago, he said.

“She tried to feed the juvenile injured daughter over a period of two months. She was already six months old,” said Bloch.

“It was the first proof that wolves were giving social support to a juvenile. She brought food and chunks of meat and that gave us a real idea about social issues in wolf families.”