Grunter
11-06-2007, 03:14 PM
Jury authenticates wolf attack
First documented fatal mauling in North America
Chris Purdy
The StarPhoenix - Saskatoon
Friday, November 02, 2007
PRINCE ALBERT -- The jury at a coroner's inquest has ruled engineering student Kenton Carnegie was killed by a pack of wolves in northern Saskatchewan, making it the first documented case of a fatal wolf attack in the wild in North America.
Carnegie's parents shook hands and hugged the six jurors, some who were crying, after they delivered the verdict Thursday at a Prince Albert hotel.
"I was saying I was sorry to them for what we had to put them through," said Carnegie's father, Kim. "They were saying, 'No, don't worry.' "
The jurors sat through three days of testimony, looking at graphic photos and listening to disturbing details of how Carnegie was likely attacked and eaten on Nov. 8, 2005.
Carnegie, a 22-year-old student on a work term from the University of Waterloo, was last seen alive as he headed out for an afternoon hike from the Points North Landing supply depot. Two hours later, worried co-workers found him mauled to death in the bush, less than a kilometre from the work camp.
Although no one witnessed the attack, searchers and local officials heard wolves howling and saw their glowing eyes in the dark when they went to retrieve the body, which was surrounded by wolf tracks in the snow.
Bite marks from wolves were also identified on Carnegie's remains.
But two animal experts debated which carnivore was first to attack and kill Carnegie.
Paul Paquet, a carnivore expert in Saskatchewan, testified it was likely a black bear. He said the pattern of the attack and the feeding and dragging of the body was consistent with bear behaviour, not wolves.
Mark McNay, a retired wildlife specialist from Alaska, said he has no doubt that wolves killed Carnegie. No bear tracks were found near his body and no bear had been spotted in the area for at least a month. Most adult bears would also have been hibernating at the time.
McNay said there has been an increasing number of human-wolf encounters in the last three decades in North America, some resulting in serious injuries. Two deaths have been reported but they involved wolves that were tame or in captivity.
Now that Carnegie's wolf-related death is in the record books, his father said those who consider wolves cute and cuddly wildlife can be proven wrong.
"Now people will say, 'Well, what about Kenton Carnegie, the guy who died from a wolf attack?' " said Kim, sobbing and shaking in front of media reporters.
"We wanted the truth to come out. We wanted the public to be aware."
The jury also made several recommendations to be passed on to the provincial government, including the need to establish safety standards at garbage dumps where predatory animals such as wolves and bears are found.
There is no legislation to dictate how dumps across the North should be operated.
Wolves were known to frequently scavenge the dump at Points North Landing, located on the west side of Wollaston Lake, about 700 kilometres northeast of Saskatoon.
Workers said wolves would tear open bags of garbage as the loader dropped them at the unfenced dump. The dump, situated on Crown land, was not managed by anyone.
A year earlier, the nearby Cameco Corp. uranium mine at Key Lake made improvements to its garbage dump in response to a wolf attack on a worker while he was walking along a nearby road. Staff believed several generations of wolves there had never hunted for food, eating only from the dump.
After Carnegie's death, the Points North company took over control of the dump there and put up a fence. When wolves began digging holes underneath, rocks were placed along the bottom of the fence to help keep them out.
During the inquest, experts warned that wolves are becoming increasingly habituated and comfortable with humans near open and unmanaged dumps. The animals learn to associate humans with food, and become more aggressive.
Four days before the attack on Carnegie, two workers walking near the camp testified they had to fight off a pair of aggressive wolves with sticks and rocks.
Two wolves were shot and killed a few days after Carnegie's death, but lab tests on their stomach contents were inconclusive for human DNA. Forensic experts did note the animals were "fat" and above average in size, weighing about 50 kilograms.
The jury further recommended the provincial government:
- Include mention of fencing, security and fines for violators when establishing standards for garbage dumps;
- Better educate workers and the public about dangerous wildlife, especially wolves and bears;
- Co-ordinate with the RCMP and coroner's office when investigating animal attacks;
- Make sure procedures to eliminate habituated animals best ensure public safety; and,
- Set up a formal reporting system so people in the North can better monitor nuisance animals.
chpurdy@sp.canwest.com
© The StarPhoenix (Saskatoon) 2007
First documented fatal mauling in North America
Chris Purdy
The StarPhoenix - Saskatoon
Friday, November 02, 2007
PRINCE ALBERT -- The jury at a coroner's inquest has ruled engineering student Kenton Carnegie was killed by a pack of wolves in northern Saskatchewan, making it the first documented case of a fatal wolf attack in the wild in North America.
Carnegie's parents shook hands and hugged the six jurors, some who were crying, after they delivered the verdict Thursday at a Prince Albert hotel.
"I was saying I was sorry to them for what we had to put them through," said Carnegie's father, Kim. "They were saying, 'No, don't worry.' "
The jurors sat through three days of testimony, looking at graphic photos and listening to disturbing details of how Carnegie was likely attacked and eaten on Nov. 8, 2005.
Carnegie, a 22-year-old student on a work term from the University of Waterloo, was last seen alive as he headed out for an afternoon hike from the Points North Landing supply depot. Two hours later, worried co-workers found him mauled to death in the bush, less than a kilometre from the work camp.
Although no one witnessed the attack, searchers and local officials heard wolves howling and saw their glowing eyes in the dark when they went to retrieve the body, which was surrounded by wolf tracks in the snow.
Bite marks from wolves were also identified on Carnegie's remains.
But two animal experts debated which carnivore was first to attack and kill Carnegie.
Paul Paquet, a carnivore expert in Saskatchewan, testified it was likely a black bear. He said the pattern of the attack and the feeding and dragging of the body was consistent with bear behaviour, not wolves.
Mark McNay, a retired wildlife specialist from Alaska, said he has no doubt that wolves killed Carnegie. No bear tracks were found near his body and no bear had been spotted in the area for at least a month. Most adult bears would also have been hibernating at the time.
McNay said there has been an increasing number of human-wolf encounters in the last three decades in North America, some resulting in serious injuries. Two deaths have been reported but they involved wolves that were tame or in captivity.
Now that Carnegie's wolf-related death is in the record books, his father said those who consider wolves cute and cuddly wildlife can be proven wrong.
"Now people will say, 'Well, what about Kenton Carnegie, the guy who died from a wolf attack?' " said Kim, sobbing and shaking in front of media reporters.
"We wanted the truth to come out. We wanted the public to be aware."
The jury also made several recommendations to be passed on to the provincial government, including the need to establish safety standards at garbage dumps where predatory animals such as wolves and bears are found.
There is no legislation to dictate how dumps across the North should be operated.
Wolves were known to frequently scavenge the dump at Points North Landing, located on the west side of Wollaston Lake, about 700 kilometres northeast of Saskatoon.
Workers said wolves would tear open bags of garbage as the loader dropped them at the unfenced dump. The dump, situated on Crown land, was not managed by anyone.
A year earlier, the nearby Cameco Corp. uranium mine at Key Lake made improvements to its garbage dump in response to a wolf attack on a worker while he was walking along a nearby road. Staff believed several generations of wolves there had never hunted for food, eating only from the dump.
After Carnegie's death, the Points North company took over control of the dump there and put up a fence. When wolves began digging holes underneath, rocks were placed along the bottom of the fence to help keep them out.
During the inquest, experts warned that wolves are becoming increasingly habituated and comfortable with humans near open and unmanaged dumps. The animals learn to associate humans with food, and become more aggressive.
Four days before the attack on Carnegie, two workers walking near the camp testified they had to fight off a pair of aggressive wolves with sticks and rocks.
Two wolves were shot and killed a few days after Carnegie's death, but lab tests on their stomach contents were inconclusive for human DNA. Forensic experts did note the animals were "fat" and above average in size, weighing about 50 kilograms.
The jury further recommended the provincial government:
- Include mention of fencing, security and fines for violators when establishing standards for garbage dumps;
- Better educate workers and the public about dangerous wildlife, especially wolves and bears;
- Co-ordinate with the RCMP and coroner's office when investigating animal attacks;
- Make sure procedures to eliminate habituated animals best ensure public safety; and,
- Set up a formal reporting system so people in the North can better monitor nuisance animals.
chpurdy@sp.canwest.com
© The StarPhoenix (Saskatoon) 2007