SLEDDOG KENNELS in Churchill, Manitoba, are begging authorities for a wolf cull. It seems that a roving band of timber wolves is systematically preying on tethered sleddogs in the early morning hours. The problem has been ongoing for several years, but kennels' losses are increasing. One kennel lost sixty animals last year, and so far this season (and it's still quite early) losses of a dozen dogs have been documented. As usual, there's argument about who should take responsibility for controlling marauding predators -- it being a highly visible and emotive issue, local government, the dog owners, and Manitoba Conservation are tossing the hot potato back and forth.
I can hardly imagine how upsetting it must be to go to a dog's stakeout and find only blood and a scrap of fur where there was a healthy sleddog only yesterday evening. Wolves killing tethered sleddogs is a recurrent problem in Canada's northern regions. I can recall a Seppala breeder, Jack Tobin of Anzac, AB, having this problem two or three years ago. Local Yukon sleddog breeder Ned Cathers and his family (who live on the "wild" east shore of Lake Laberge) have had a running battle with wolves for their dogs' safety for years.
The Churchill situation was reported in an Edmonton Sun article headed "Sled-dog breeders cry wolf".
Posted by jjeffrey at October 11, 2005 03:44 PM