By Carol Mulligan, Sudbury Star
Living on a 30-acre property on the northeast corner of Whitewater Lake in Azilda, Dermott Kinsella has seen plenty of wildlife in his front and back yard. Raccoons, bears, coyotes.
But he has never seen anything like the sight that greeted him Wednesday when neighbour Gerald Surtees stopped to tell him a deer had been killed and eaten by wolves about 50 feet from Kinsella’s house.
Surtees knew it was wolves that did the killing because the deer carcass was stripped clean to the skeleton, except for its head and hind legs, and Surtees spotted a wolf in the bush across the road from Kinsella’s home about 8 a.m.
Kinsella saw a wolf in his yard about a week ago and said it was magnificent. It’s not unusual to see coyotes in the area, particularly on the ice when Whitewater Lake is frozen. But the retired Inco electrician and businessman stopped what he was doing last week when he saw a large wolf walk in bush near his home, cross the road in front of and head toward another neighbour.
Kinsella is convinced it would have taken a pack of wolves to strip clean the carcass of what appeared to be a fully grown deer, which could have weighed 150-200 pounds or more.
“That carcass is so clean, you won’t believe it,” said Kinsella before showing it to visitors. He has pieced together that the deer must have been attacked about 50 feet from his home, dragged by wolves about 30 feet away where it was killed judging from the evidence there, then dragged another 50 feet or so away to where it was eaten.
“They cleaned that (carcass) clean, clean, clean,” said Kinsella. “You want to believe how much meat they took off that animal.”
Deer haven’t been visiting the area where he lives for about three years, but Kinsella had heard they were starting to return. Clearly the wolves figured it out, as well.
Kinsella’s wife, Joanne, admitted to being nervous about walking in the area after the deer kill, but her husband said he wasn’t afraid, just fascinated.
Most interesting to him is that the wolves dragged the deer away from where they killed it to consume it.
Kinsella thought his neighbours should know a pack of wolves is hunting in their neighbourhood.
“There’s no reason to be nervous,” said Kinsella, who doesn’t believe wolves would attack humans. “It’s different when it’s animal on animal.”
The wolf expert with the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry wasn’t available to comment on the wolf attack Wednesday. But ministry spokeswoman Jolanta Kowalski provided a wealth of information about wolves in answer to questions from The Sudbury Star.
Wolves are carnivores and naturally feed on members of the deer family to survive, said Kowalski, and are an important part of the province’s biodiversity.
Attacks on humans are extremely rare.
“The wolves would have no interest in people or their properties, unless people are not keeping their properties free of attractants,” she said.
Still wolves and coyotes are predators and should be respected as potentially dangerous.
“Fearless behaviour” by a wolf or coyote is unusual and a signal the animal may pose a threat to human safety if precautions are not taken.
Kinsella said he figured there were wolves near his property although he had never seen one until last week.
“That’s the mystery of the wolf right? You know? Aloof.”
When asked what colour the eyes of the wolf were that he saw a week ago, Kinsella replied tersely: “Wasn’t that close.”
“I think the fact they’re here is interesting,” said Kinsella of the experience. “I don’t know how many people … have experienced this sort of thing.
“It’s not bad to let people know there’s a pack (of wolves) in the area.”
When asked what he was going to do about the evidence of the fight that occurred some time between when he went to bed at midnight and was notified of the attack at 8 a.m., Kinsella said: “Mother Nature’s taking care of that right now.”
Snow was falling on the area and large birds were picking at the skeletal remains of the deer.
“The birds will clean it up. It will be all gone.”
Kinsella was philosophical about the event that occurred on his property, indicating it was all part of the life cycle of wild animals.
Said Kinsella: “You need the wolves, you need everything, you need us. We all need each other.”