Wildlife encounters frightening for people—deadly for pets

This wolf was spotted by Leah Carpenter in the ditch of Highway 61 in Lutsen on March 24. DNR conservation officers believe wolves are drawn to Highway 61 because of all the deer carcasses on the highway.

Darlene Ludlow used to think walking the mile and a quarter home from work was good for her health, but she’s not so sure anymore. On Tuesday, April 5, she left her job at Arrowhead Electric Cooperative Inc. in Lutsen and was walking home along Highway 61 when a “great big timber wolf ” began to pursue her, her husband Brad reported to the Cook County News-Herald the next day.

Darlene got past Clearview, where some people across the highway from her were looking at the wolf as well, Brad said, but the wolf started to follow her. “Darlene knew he was pursuing her,” he said. She blew a whistle she carries with her for such occasions, but it didn’t deter the wolf. He just stared her down from the other side of the ditch between them, about 15 to 20 feet from her.

Darlene became very frightened and flagged a passing pickup truck that was driven by Pat O’Neill. He saw what was going on and stopped immediately, and Darlene jumped into the cab.

Brad Ludlow expressed concern over the wolf ’s lack of fear, especially when Darlene blew the whistle. What if a kid walked down to Clearview to buy a candy bar? he wondered. “I think this is a sick wolf,” he said. He reported the incident to Minnesota Department of Natural Resources Conservation Officer Tom Wahlstrom.

Brad reported that the day after Darlene’s encounter, she received a call from Pat O’Neill, who told her he had just been working outside about five driveways up the Caribou Trail when he felt he was being watched. He turned and discovered a wolf watching him from about 12 feet away. “It’s one thing to not be bashful,” Brad Ludlow said, “but it’s another thing to approach a human.”

The intentions of the animal(s) remain unknown, but Officer Wahlstrom told the News-Herald that he doesn’t think wolves are looking at humans as a potential food source. In his experience, he said, pedestrian encounters with wolves have mostly been near food sources, such as a dead deer or a live deer in the process of trying to run away.

Because the woods were so full of snow this year, a lot of deer headed closer to Lake Superior, Wahlstrom said. The wolf population followed them down and found a very easy source of food – the many carkilled deer along the highway.

DNR Conservation Officer Darin Fagerman concurred, but added that feeding deer concentrates them in a particular area and frequently draws wolves as well.

Pets may be in danger

Area pets may be viewed as a food source—or as a threat to a wolf or coyote’s territory. That is apparently the case in a wildlife attack that occurred on Wednesday, April 6 at Bev Wolke’s Grand Marais/Maple Hill home. Wolke’s 11-year-old Australian shepherd named Goldie was killed just 100 yards from her house. Wolke said she normally let her dogs—the older dog and a new Australian shepherd puppy— out each morning while getting ready for work. On April 6, only the puppy came back when she called. Wolke did not think too much about it, as the dog sometimes visited her brother’s house next door. When the dog didn’t return, Wolke’s brother, Dan Schlienz, went looking for it and sadly found it dead in a small field behind the house.

The snow around the dog had been trampled and packed down in about a 20-square-foot circle and the pet was, according to Wolke, “really torn up.”

Wolke and Schlienz believed the dog was killed by coyotes, however Conservation Officer Fagerman said it was more likely wolves.

Schlienz had heard howling and yipping early in the morning, which made him suspect coyotes, but Fagerman said that could also have been wolves. He said wolves also hunt in packs, leaving scenes like the one Schlienz discovered. “It is really hard to tell, but there are a lot of wolves around now,” said Fagerman. “Once wolves move in, coyotes tend to move out.”

Fagerman said it is likely that the dog was perceived as a threat to the wolves’ territory. He advised pet owners to not let their pets go out of the house alone. However, he acknowledged it is not always possible to protect a dog, as it may chase a coyote or wolf.

Wolke learned this lesson the hard way. She said, “We are really scared for the puppy now and watching him like a hawk.”

She added that her youngest daughter is taking the loss very hard. “She was just 2 years old when we got Goldie. She was a special kind of dog. What is really hard is we didn’t get to say goodbye.”

Can you protect yourself? Your pet?

What can a person do to protect him- or herself from a wolf attack? Wahlstrom said the law allows a person to kill a wolf if that person is afraid he or she is in immediate danger of being killed by the wolf. This does not apply to people fearing that their pets are in immediate danger of being killed, however.

Many of the wolf sightings in Cook County have been of individual wolves. Wahlstrom said that wolf packs will temporarily separate when hunting. Fagerman concurred but added that most of the time the animal’s intentions are benign. “When it comes right down to it, most of the time wolves are just curious.”

However, any sort of wildlife encounter—the feeling of being threatened or an actual attack of some sort— should be reported to the Minnesota DNR.

Cook County has some brush wolves, or coyotes, as well, but they are not as numerous as timber wolves. Timber wolves will kill brush wolves who show up in their territory, Wahlstrom said.

Timber wolves (otherwise known as Canis lupus or “gray” wolves) are under the protection of the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. They are on the Endangered Species List in the lower 48 states except for Minnesota and in some areas where they are considered experimental but non-essential. In Minnesota, they are on the threatened list.

The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service is currently considering delisting the gray wolf – removing it from the endangered and threatened list — in the western Great Lakes region and received a petition from the Minnesota DNR in March 2010 requesting that the gray wolf be removed from the list in Minnesota.

To contact local DNR Conservation Officers: