From the mythical founding of Rome and The Call of the Wild to the werewolves of folklore and cinema, humankind has long been both frightened and fascinated by Canis lupus.
One of nature’s most adaptable animals, wolves inhabit nearly every continent and myriad ecosystems, from the Arabian desert and Tibetan highlands to the Italian Alps and boreal forest of northern Minnesota.
Thanks to geographical isolation, they have evolved into 36 subspecies, including a small but intriguing population of coastal wolves on Canada’s Vancouver Island.
“While the specifics relating to the genetics are an ongoing debate, they could be considered an ecotype of the Northern Gray Wolf (Canis lupus occidentalis),” says Todd Windle, project manager of Wild About Wolves, a Parks Canada research project that focused on the wolves of Pacific Rim National Park Reserve. “That means they are not a unique species but rather a group that has adapted to a specific ecosystem.”
And boy, have they adapted.
It’s a bit jarring to come across a pack of wolves loping along a beach, but that’s ordinary behavior for a subspecies that feels equally at home along the shore or in the lush temperate rainforest behind the coast. They’re even comfortable in the water.
“Coastal wolves are great swimmers and have been observed swimming 6-7 miles between islands in very cold water in summer or winter,” says Gary Allen, founder of the SWELL Wolf Education Center in Nanaimo, British Columbia, a nonprofit dedicated to the protection and appreciation of wolves.
“There are great tides and currents in these waters,” Allen adds. “So the wolves swim when those conditions are in their favor. They also swim at night because they cannot be detected. Once the wolf commits to swimming, they are very vulnerable and have been hit by boats or shot from boats. That’s why we don’t see them swimming very much.”
Without that incredible aquatic skill, they may have vanished completely.
“The Vancouver Island wolf was believed to be extirpated, or at least significantly reduced following decades of sanctioned eradication,” Windle explains. In other words, they were nearly hunted to extinction by the middle of the 20th century. But starting in the 1960s, they reestablished themselves by swimming to Vancouver Island from mainland British Columbia across short channels like the Johnstone Strait or perhaps even island-hopping across the Salish Sea.
Given their home turf, it comes as no surprise that coastal wolves have also adapted their food to their seafaring surroundings. Studies have shown their diet largely derives from what they can source along the shore as both hunters and scavengers: salmon, shellfish, birds and their eggs, river and sea otters, whales and seals.
“The marine interface is vitally important for these wolves to hunt and forage for carrion,” Windle explains. “Wolves hunt harbor seals by sneaking up on them when hauled out on beaches. Because seals move quite slowly on land, they are easy for wolves to catch. Wolves remove seal hides and turn them inside out to get at the meat of the animal, much like we peel a banana.”
That maritime diet probably accounts for the fact that coastal wolves are smaller than their mammal-munching mainland counterparts. “Interior wolves would be about 20 lbs heavier both for the males and females,” says Allen. “You get big wolves with two conditions—big prey like elk and many of them. There just isn’t that size and quantity of prey” along the coast, he adds.
And rather than the light to dark gray hue of inland wolves, the coastal canines flaunt fur with a reddish-brown tint that “blends into the vegetation along the coast such as the kelp on the rocks,” Allen explains.
Because the packs are so widely dispersed and they tend to inhabit the most remote areas, it’s hard to estimate the island’s coastal wolf population. Allen thinks it’s around 350 individuals, or roughly four times the number of wolves that roam Yellowstone National Park.
The First Nations of Vancouver Island are among the strongest advocates of preserving and protecting coastal wolves. Wolves are interwoven in the culture and fundamental to the spirituality of the local indigenous people, who express their respect and admiration for the animal through lupine images on totem poles and house posts.
So it was natural that Parks Canada would partner with the local First Nations when it created Wild About Wolves in Pacific Rim National Park Reserve, a multi-disciplinary research project that aimed to increase understanding of local wolves and the factors that contribute to conflict with visitors.
“Parks Canada and First Nations leaders had observed an increase in interactions between wolves and humans over several years,” says Windle, “which peaked in 2017 when two wolves were destroyed after significant conflicts with people and pets.”
The project had several objectives: A better understanding of how First Nations people have long coexisted with wolves through Indigenous knowledge, respect and values; refining Parks Canada’s community approach to reduce conflict with wolves; and human-dimensions research into the attitudes, values and beliefs of people who drive conflicts with wolves.
“Part of achieving this goal included learning from Nuu-chah-nulth peoples about their sacred relationship with wolves and how they have been able to coexist with these wild animals safely and effectively,” Windle explains.
A key lesson learned from the human-dimensions research is that most people in the region have high levels of support and acceptance of wolves. However, their behavior around wolves often results in outcomes for the animals with the opposite effect of what is desired, such as habituation and food conditioning.
Ecological research showed that wolves are more likely to follow their prey, even into areas of high human use activity including beaches, trails, and the edge of communities.
Reacting to the study, Parks Canada initiated an information campaign featuring billboards and other media that urged visitors not to feed or get too close to the animals, to properly dispose of their food garbage, and to always keep their dogs on a leash. Not everyone pays attention. “Human-wolf encounters are a fairly common occurrence in the region,” says Windle.
“Yes, we do have our collection of human idiots,” says Allen. “They want to get a selfie with the wolf, they will feed them, and they allow their dogs to run free. Some fidos do not return with the family.”
However, Allen says that’s not the only threat. Wolf hunting and trapping are still legal in Vancouver Island, where each hunter is allowed to take three animals per year. Habitat destruction through logging remains a concern, although less so in the past, because timber extraction is being curtailed in some old-growth forests.
Yet Allen is confident they will survive and continue to thrive on the island.
“Wolves are incredibly intelligent. They live in a harsh environment, so they have to use their intelligence and their cooperative behavior to survive. They are able to problem solve, they engage in cognitive mapping where they know everything in their territory, and if something has changed or entered their territory, they know it very quickly. They can encounter a situation that is very new to them, and they will work out a solution.”
Nat Hab offers several tours along Canada’s wild west coast, adventures that range from seeking out Spirit Bears, Humpbacks & Wildlife of BC aboard a private sailboat through a landscape that includes coastal wolf habitats, and a Haida Gwaii sailing voyage to Canada’s remote North Pacific archipelago.