'We got 'em'

A group of men and a boy stood around the dead wolf.

The wolf laid on its side, its legs stiffened from the cold, on a clear plastic tarp in a L'Anse au Loup driveway, Feb. 11.

"She's not too big though," one of the men said as they all looked down at the wolf.

The rest nodded in agreement, adding stories of larger wolves spotted along Quebec's Lower North Shore and the Labrador coast.

"She was bigger when we first brought her in," said the trapper, Trevor James. "She's froze up a bit now."

Mr. James' son, Joel, 4, had been pleased with the catch.

"We got 'em," he said earlier.

The townspeople had been pleased too, or curious rather, having lined the streets with vehicles to catch a glimpse of the killed wolf.

Vanessa James, Trevor's wife, estimated 50 cars lined the street in the morning after Trevor returned with the carcass.

Since Jan. 28, Mr. James had been setting snares, which he ordered from Goose Bay.

He had taken a trappers' course last year and set traps and snares for smaller animals to check with his two boys.

"I seen footings of him ever since before Christmas and I've been keeping him fed pretty much ever since," he said, adding he used old moose meat, fox carcasses and two buckets of herring for bait.

"I'd say he ate 100 lb. of meat and fish altogether."

Upon checking the snare last Wednesday morning, Mr. James witnessed an unsettling scene.

The wolf was still alive, struggling with its head and forepaw locked in the snare.

L'Anse au Loup, which is 'Cove of Wolves' in French, has been stirring lately with wolf sightings. On Jan. 23, two wolves devoured a Siberian husky near a home in Bradore, Quebec, and in November, Mary's Harbour RCMP issued a warning for residents there to be wary of the presence of a wolf or wolves.

Ms. James was afraid for her Siberian husky, chained in her backyard.

"They already ate two dogs," Joel said.

The James family said this was their first wolf sighting.

In spite of general opinion in the Labrador Straits that so many wolf sightings are rare, Gerry Yetman, senior manager of the wildlife division in the Department of Environment and Conservation, said wolves are common to the area.

"Wolves are a part of the landscape in Labrador," Mr. Yetman said. "Every year during the winter they're going to be carrying out their normal behaviours, and that's looking for food. What's happening this year, I understand, that the snow conditions up in that part of Labrador, the snow is fairly deep, so it may be making it that much more difficult to access their normal prey."

Any reports of wildlife sightings go to regional conservation officers in the Department of Natural Resources, he added.

"If, for instance, someone in L'Anse au Loup had an incident with a wolf coming in attacking their dog, they would call the Department of Natural Resources and they would investigate it. If they thought it was an issue they would probably contact a local trapper to take care of the animal," he said.

Mr. James worked independently.

A half-mile from his front door, Mr. James estimated, the wolf struggled in the snare.

"It was still alive in the snare," he said. "It was still alive. I had to come back and get my .22 (calibre rifle), shoot him."

While caught in the snare the wolf had chewed through a tree.

"He chewed the tree down, same size as that," he said pointing to a cookie jar.

The townspeople, coming and going, had been curious to see the dead wolf.

A group of men and a boy stood around the wolf, laid stiff on its side.

"She's not too big though," one of the men said as they all looked down at the wolf.