CBC News
3 or 4 wolves show cunning, sending female wolf as lure, police chief says
Wolves have killed three large dogs and injured another at cottage communities north of Winnipeg in the past two weeks.
Two dogs were killed in Hillside Beach and the third was killed in Albert Beach, said Victoria Beach Police Chief Stewart MacPherson, adding the latter dog was a malamute and the attack was “particularly severe.”
“The dog was literally torn into pieces and a piece was found over here and another piece over here type thing. They really went to town on that dog.”
Over the weekend, two German shepherds were in their yard when the wolves attacked.
One was injured before the owner scared the wolves off.
The family of that dog has another that is now too frightened to leave the deck, MacPherson said.
“This is a 100-pound German shepherd [and it] won’t venture off the deck; sits and looks at the tree line, the bush line. He’s very fearful.”
MacPherson said it appears there are three or four wolves and they’re quite cunning — they’ll send out a female wolf to play with a male dog, then the male wolves will swarm.
They’re also big, he said. MacPherson recently saw a white wolf he initially thought was a deer, it was so tall.
Officials have warned people about their small dogs in the past but the dogs being attacked now are large breeds, MacPherson said, adding they’re often tied up in yards.
The province’s Department of Natural Resources has contracted the Manitoba Trappers Association for help in catching the wolves.
Barry Verbiwski, the province’s head of fur-bearer and human wildlife conflict management, said the wolves have moved in because deer are plentiful in the area.
“There’s always been wolves moving through, but we think what’s happened now is that these wolves have set up a bit of a territory, and what they’re doing is trying to remove any of the competition for the food source which is big dogs,” Verbiwski said.
“I think the first killed was a Husky, and then a great Pyrenees and then a malamute, and then the most recent attack was the other night on two German shepherds,” Verbiwski said.
So far the wolves have stayed away from humans, but Verbiwski warned people to keep an eye on their children as well as pets to be safe.
Albert and Hillside beaches are about 100 kilometres northeast of Winnipeg, on the eastern shore of Lake Winnipeg.