YOU'VE GOT TO SEE THIS!! (largest coyote ever shot in Newfoundland)

Years ago, there was a wolf sub-species on Vancouver Island, rare and protected. In the early 70's, wolves from the mainland swam, island hopped, and eventually made it over to the top part of the island. We no longer have the Vancouver Island sub-species ..... inter-breeding ended that.

Johnstone Straight does not freeze.....the wolves made it across.
There have been grizzly bear sightings on the north island for years, hushed up by the then Fish & Wildlife Branch ....... they now acknowledge that there is a probable breeding population here now.......got here by swimming.

We were in a herring skiff in the mouth of Boswell Inlet, about 8 miles from the beach. Saw what we thought was a sea-lion, but it didn't sound ..... it was a large grizzly bear swimming out to sea.....no land out there.....
Animals can and do take to the water......

The photos look like a wolf to me.......DNA will tell the tale.
 
We've shot and trapped (snared) dozens of coyotes and wolves over the past 35 years... there is NO mistaking the difference... if the DNA testing says that animal is a coyote, I say FIRE the lab tech! :eek:
 
Macarena Man said:
Years ago, there was a wolf sub-species on Vancouver Island, rare and protected. In the early 70's, wolves from the mainland swam, island hopped, and eventually made it over to the top part of the island. We no longer have the Vancouver Island sub-species ..... inter-breeding ended that. Johnstone Straight does not freeze.....the wolves made it across. There have been grizzly bear sightings on the north island for years, hushed up by the then Fish & Wildlife Branch ....... they now acknowledge that there is a probable breeding population here now.......got here by swimming. We were in a herring skiff in the mouth of Boswell Inlet, about 8 miles from the beach. Saw what we thought was a sea-lion, but it didn't sound ..... it was a large grizzly bear swimming out to sea.....no land out there..... Animals can and do take to the water...... The photos look like a wolf to me.......DNA will tell the tale.
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That a wolf could make the 16 km approx crossing from southern Labrador to the Great Northern Peninsula of the island part of the province has never been at issue. Coyotes are supposed to have made the 144 km (approx) crossing from Cape Breton when they arrived about 30 years ago. I'm sure it has happened before and will probably happen again. But it is unusual, especially for the animal to make a 800 km trek southward and end up where it did. If the testing comes back 'wolf' (and we may have some preliminary results later this week), I won't be surprised. I am more interested in whether it has any other DNA in the mix.
 
CV32 said:
That a wolf could make the 16 km approx crossing from southern Labrador to the Great Northern Peninsula of the island part of the province has never been at issue. Coyotes are supposed to have made the 144 km (approx) crossing from Cape Breton when they arrived about 30 years ago. I'm sure it has happened before and will probably happen again. But it is unusual, especially for the animal to make a 800 km trek southward and end up where it did........
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Interesting subject......
A collered wolf was shot on the ice of Crooked Lake (south-central B.C.).....it was one of two wolves that disappeared from a tagging program in southern Oregon....
 
From the Northern Pen to Bonavista is hardly 800 km. Its 400 km in a straight line and about 500 if you go around the bays and through the interior. Collared coyotes on the island have been shown to travel as far.

In short, this is not a long distance for a wolf to travel.
 
G P said:
From the Northern Pen to Bonavista is hardly 800 km. Its 400 km in a straight line and about 500 if you go around the bays and through the interior. Collared coyotes on the island have been shown to travel as far. In short, this is not a long distance for a wolf to travel.
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You seem to have a penchant for nitpicking, GP, though I'm not sure what your objective is supposed to be. First, it was CGN member dangertree because he said we didn't have wolves in Newfoundland (and, officially, we don't) but failed to mention Labrador, despite you knowing full well that we are talking about the island here. Now its kilometers. Are you bored? :p

To humour you I pulled out Google Earth and yes, its roughly 400 km straight line from the coast of Labrador to Halfway Pond where the subject animal was taken. And yes, its roughly 500 km straight line if you don't keep skipping across the ocean on the way. (Forgive me if that's not quite exact enough for you). :rolleyes:

Of course I have never known any animals to walk in perfectly straight lines, across water or otherwise (including those collared coyotes, btw), but that's besides the point. The point was that while it is certainly not impossible (and I think I said as much), the presence of a wolf on the Bonavista Peninsula is unusual, e.g. out of the ordinary. If this was the Great Northern Peninsula, eyebrows would not be raised as high. Fair enough?
 
G P said:
From the Northern Pen to Bonavista is hardly 800 km. Its 400 km in a straight line and about 500 if you go around the bays and through the interior. Collared coyotes on the island have been shown to travel as far.

In short, this is not a long distance for a wolf to travel.
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What would be the animals purpose in the 400 km trek.
A wolf coming in on the northern peninsula would have more food than imaginable and would have little reason to expand territory if it is a lone wolf, even moreso if he made landfall on this years ice.

My thought is that this wolf, hybrid whatever is not the only one.
 
CV32 said:
You seem to have a penchant for nitpicking, GP, though I'm not sure what your objective is supposed to be. First, it was CGN member dangertree because he said we didn't have wolves in Newfoundland (and, officially, we don't) but failed to mention Labrador, despite you knowing full well that we are talking about the island here. Now its kilometers. Are you bored? :p

To humour you I pulled out Google Earth and yes, its roughly 400 km straight line from the coast of Labrador to Halfway Pond where the subject animal was taken. And yes, its roughly 500 km straight line if you don't keep skipping across the ocean on the way. (Forgive me if that's not quite exact enough for you). :rolleyes:

Of course I have never known any animals to walk in perfectly straight lines, across water or otherwise (including those collared coyotes, btw), but that's besides the point. The point was that while it is certainly not impossible (and I think I said as much), the presence of a wolf on the Bonavista Peninsula is unusual, e.g. out of the ordinary. If this was the Great Northern Peninsula, eyebrows would not be raised as high. Fair enough?
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I'll go one further,...it is more than unusual, and anyone who doesn't think so has their head up their ass...
 
CV32 said:
You seem to have a penchant for nitpicking, GP, though I'm not sure what your objective is supposed to be. First, it was CGN member dangertree because he said we didn't have wolves in Newfoundland (and, officially, we don't) but failed to mention Labrador, despite you knowing full well that we are talking about the island here. Now its kilometers. Are you bored? :p

To humour you I pulled out Google Earth and yes, its roughly 400 km straight line from the coast of Labrador to Halfway Pond where the subject animal was taken. And yes, its roughly 500 km straight line if you don't keep skipping across the ocean on the way. (Forgive me if that's not quite exact enough for you). :rolleyes:

Of course I have never known any animals to walk in perfectly straight lines, across water or otherwise (including those collared coyotes, btw), but that's besides the point. The point was that while it is certainly not impossible (and I think I said as much), the presence of a wolf on the Bonavista Peninsula is unusual, e.g. out of the ordinary. If this was the Great Northern Peninsula, eyebrows would not be raised as high. Fair enough?
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NL stands for Newfoundland and Labrador. When someone says there are no wolves in NL I try to educate them. People interchanging the words Newfoundland, province, and NL is a pet peeve of mine since the latter two include Labrador while the former does not. It all goes back to a geography class I took in first year university. The professor asked the class to draw a map of the province and label the regions. Only two people were even aware that Labrador is part of the province and included it: myself and the guy sitting next to me who copied my map. So there's a long story as to why I "nitpick" that particular issue. Even the people of the Island of Newfoundland are completely unaware of Labrador.

But it is unusual, especially for the animal to make a 800 km trek southward and end up where it did.
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This is the only part I'm disagreeing with. It's not nearly as far as you said it was and It's not unusual at all for a wolf to travel as far as it did in my opinion. I did some research though, and I couldn't find the info but I thought I saw that one coyote who was being tracked moved almost entirely across the island. The best I could find was one was recorded to have gone 170 km (source: http://www.env.gov.nl.ca/env/publications/wildlife/51f40a0ed01.pdf). So, it is unusual but not unlikely.
 
G P said:
NL stands for Newfoundland and Labrador. When someone says there are no wolves in NL I try to educate them.
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And we're talking about an animal claimed to have been shot in Newfoundland, not in Labrador.

This is the only part I'm disagreeing with. It's not nearly as far as you said it was and It's not unusual at all for a wolf to travel as far as it did in my opinion.
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Yeah, unlike you I was assuming that a wolf would not travel in perfectly straight lines. :rolleyes:

I did some research though, and I couldn't find the info but I thought I saw that one coyote who was being tracked moved almost entirely across the island. The best I could find was one was recorded to have gone 170 km (source: http://www.env.gov.nl.ca/env/publications/wildlife/51f40a0ed01.pdf).
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As for Newfoundland coyotes having large territories and moving long distances, yep, well aware of it. I am privy to the Wildlife Division predator research data before most people. The one you're thinking of was collared in the La Poile area and moved over to the Bay d'Espoir area. Not sure how its relevant to the subject matter, though.

So, it is unusual but not unlikely.
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I guess it depends on your interpretation of "unlikely". If you have other reliable evidence of wolves in Bonavista in the last 80 years or so, I'd like to hear about it. But, in any event, having come full circle, we find that we don't really disagree. Imagine that.
 
sealhunter said:
What would be the animals purpose in the 400 km trek.
A wolf coming in on the northern peninsula would have more food than imaginable and would have little reason to expand territory if it is a lone wolf, even moreso if he made landfall on this years ice.

My thought is that this wolf, hybrid whatever is not the only one.
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Actually, he'd have a very good reason to expand his territory. Wolves are gregarious. Since he was a lone wolf, there's a good chance he was looking to team up with others to establish a pack. They've collared wolves that have travelled 1000 miles looking for mates,etc. Food isn't the issue, finding other wolves on the island may pose a problem.

Some have said the coyote genes in NL contain wolf DNA. I question whether the DNA results from this one will be conclusive anyhow, but I'm not a geneticist.
 
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