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Wolves kill dog on Tofino beach

“It looks like [the dog] wandered out onto the beach and was attacked by the wolves and killed.”
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West Coast residents and visitors are being urged to keep their pets on a leash after wolves attacked a dog on Chesterman Beach Saturday morning. (Cheryl Alexander - photo)

Two wolves are believed to have killed a dog on Tofino’s Chesterman Beach Saturday morning.

The dog had been let outside, off-leash, in the early morning hours of Sept. 1, according to WildSafe B.C. Pacific Rim coordinator Bob Hansen.

“It looks like [the dog] wandered out onto the beach and was attacked by the wolves and killed,” Hansen told the Westerly News. “We don’t know how many wolves exactly were involved, but the indications were that there was at least two…It looks like, from the wounds, that two wolves were holding onto the dog at the same time.”

Hansen said he plans to put out information about co-existing with wildlife through his WildSafeBC Facebook page and urges all dog owners to keep their pets on a leash whenever they’re outside.

“We are living with all of these wild animals together on this landscape,” he said. “There are direct ways to increase the safety of our pets and one of the most direct ways to do that is to have them on-leash and keep them in at night.”

He noted that a wolf attacked a leashed-dog in the Pacific Rim National Park Reserve in March of 2017, but added that “99.9 per cent of the time” leashes protect pets from being attacked.

He said anyone who spots a wolf in the community must immediately contact the B.C. Conservation Officer Service at 1-877-952-7277.

The Westerly News has reached out to the Conservation Officer Service and will update this story as soon as new information is released.

READ MORE: Wolf killed in Pacific Rim National Park Reserve between Tofino and Ucluelet

READ MORE: Wolf killed in Ucluelet

READ MORE: Leashes and owner’s actions keep Ucluelet dogs safe during wolf encounter

READ MORE: Behest of the West: Wolf Advisory should have included dog ban



Andrew Bailey

About the Author: Andrew Bailey

I arrived at the Westerly News as a reporter and photographer in January 2012.
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