Morgan Watsyk admits his eyesight is pretty bad, so at first he thought those dark forms on the road ahead were mountain goats.
“Because I’m getting closer to Wrigley [N.W.T], right? You’re getting closer to the mountains and whatnot,” he recalled.
“But I was thinking there shouldn’t be no herd of mountain goats in this area.”
He quickly whipped out his phone and zoomed in to get a better look. The video captures his surprise.
“This a pack of wolves?” an incredulous Watsyk says in the 16-second video. “Holy shit! That’s a pack of wolves! Oh wow, that is super cool!”
It was indeed a pack of wolves. Eleven of them, it looks like, spread across the remote and snowy road. They soon seem to notice Watsyk’s vehicle and start running up the highway before the short video ends.
Wolf pack on N.W.T. road
Morgan Watsyk caught this wolf pack on the road to Wrigley, N.W.T., earlier this month.
“I was really definitely quite amazed to see 11 wolves at once. So yeah, somebody was definitely looking after me there that day!” Watsyk said later.
The Fort Simpson, N.W.T., man has lived in the North for most of his life and he’s spotted plenty of cool animals — bears, foxes, coyotes. But he’d never seen a wolf in the wild, let alone a whole pack.
Watsyk said he kept his vehicle slowly moving toward them and got pretty close before they turned and vanished into the forest.
“I just hope somebody doesn’t come up and decide to poacher these poor animals because yeah, they are gorgeous. They are gorgeous beasts,” he said.
He later posted his video on Facebook and it soon had thousands of views.
Dean Cluff, a wildlife biologist with the N.W.T. government, saw the video and he shares Watsyk’s enthusiasm.
“He said it was super cool — and I think it is,” Cluff said. “It is an awesome sighting … unless you’re flying and seeing it from the air, you know, you often don’t see a whole pack.”
‘It is an awesome sighting,’ said N.W.T. regional biologist Dean Cluff about Watsyk’s encounter. (Submitted by Dawn Curtis)
Even Cluff has only ever seen a pack of wolves from the air. On the ground, the elusive animals are more often spotted alone or in pairs, if at all.
Cluff says the size of the pack Watsyk saw would be fairly typical for wolves in that area. He says they’re likely “moose wolves,” named for their typical prey, and this time of year are most likely wandering around on the prowl. As winter continues, some animals will begin to pair off before the breeding season in March.
He says it’s “amazing” that wolf attacks on people aren’t more common. In fact, they’re very rare.
Still, he acknowledges that “it’s just a little riskier” when there’s a pack mentality at work. The last thing one should do if they encounter a pack is to turn and run, Cluff said, because then they look like prey.
“That might elicit the predator response,” he said.
People are more likely to spot wolves on their own in the wild in N.W.T., or in a pair, Cluff said, (Dean Cluff/GNWT-ENR)
Watsyk was in little danger though, even if he stepped out of the protective shell of his truck. Cluff says vehicles — including quads or snowmobiles, or even horses — are perceived differently by wolves than a person on foot.
“Odds are that if a person got out of the vehicle, you know, that pack would take off. So it’s not too much of a concern.”
Watsyk admits he was a bit tempted to “hop out of the truck and give one a pet” but then thought better of it.
“I definitely still like to have my fingers by the end of the day,” he said.
WINNIPEG – Police in Winnipeg say one person has died and three more were injured after a pickup truck smashed into a bus shelter on Portage Avenue during the morning commute.
Police say those injured are in stable condition in hospital.
It began after a Ford F150 truck hit a pedestrian and bus shelter on Portage Avenue near Bedson Street before 8 a.m.
Another vehicle, a power pole and a gas station were also damaged before the truck came to a stop.
The crash forced commuters to be rerouted and knocked out power in the area for more than a thousand Manitoba Hydro customers.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
KAMLOOPS, B.C. – A 35-year-old man has been charged with second-degree murder after his mother’s body was found near her Kamloops, B.C., home a year ago.
Mounties say 57-year-old Jo-Anne Donovan was found dead about a week after she had been reported missing.
RCMP says its serious crime unit launched an investigation after the body was found.
Police say they arrested Brandon Donovan on Friday after the BC Prosecution Service approved the charge.
TORONTO – Strength in the base metal and technology sectors helped Canada’s main stock index gain almost 100 points on Friday, while U.S. stock markets climbed to their best week of the year.
“It’s been almost a complete opposite or retracement of what we saw last week,” said Philip Petursson, chief investment strategist at IG Wealth Management.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 297.01 points at 41,393.78. The S&P 500 index was up 30.26 points at 5,626.02, while the Nasdaq composite was up 114.30 points at 17,683.98.
The S&P/TSX composite index closed up 93.51 points at 23,568.65.
While last week saw a “healthy” pullback on weaker economic data, this week investors appeared to be buying the dip and hoping the central bank “comes to the rescue,” said Petursson.
Next week, the U.S. Federal Reserve is widely expected to cut its key interest rate for the first time in several years after it significantly hiked it to fight inflation.
But the magnitude of that first cut has been the subject of debate, and the market appears split on whether the cut will be a quarter of a percentage point or a larger half-point reduction.
Petursson thinks it’s clear the smaller cut is coming. Economic data recently hasn’t been great, but it hasn’t been that bad either, he said — and inflation may have come down significantly, but it’s not defeated just yet.
“I think they’re going to be very steady,” he said, with one small cut at each of their three decisions scheduled for the rest of 2024, and more into 2025.
“I don’t think there’s a sense of urgency on the part of the Fed that they have to do something immediately.
A larger cut could also send the wrong message to the markets, added Petursson: that the Fed made a mistake in waiting this long to cut, or that it’s seeing concerning signs in the economy.
It would also be “counter to what they’ve signaled,” he said.
More important than the cut — other than the new tone it sets — will be what Fed chair Jerome Powell has to say, according to Petursson.
“That’s going to be more important than the size of the cut itself,” he said.
In Canada, where the central bank has already cut three times, Petursson expects two more before the year is through.
“Here, the labour situation is worse than what we see in the United States,” he said.
The Canadian dollar traded for 73.61 cents US compared with 73.58 cents US on Thursday.
The October crude oil contract was down 32 cents at US$68.65 per barrel and the October natural gas contract was down five cents at US$2.31 per mmBTU.
The December gold contract was up US$30.10 at US$2,610.70 an ounce and the December copper contract was up four cents US$4.24 a pound.
— With files from The Associated Press
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
