Newfoundland’s caribou population is declining, believed to be largely due to calf predation by black bears and habitat disruption............. The return of the wolf may help to reduce the number of coywolves(Eastern Coyotes) that also prey on caribou calves............ In any event, the Newfoundland and Labrador government can ill-afford to ignore the fact that a 2nd Wolf sighting has occurred.......... Many people in Newfoundland would welcome the wolf back recognizing that there is abundant habitat and prey for them to create a sustainable breeding population......... Rather than bury their heads in the sand, government officials need to wake up and smell the coffee, or in this case, the wolf scat

The Maine wolf coalition reports on the Wolves potentially recolonizing Newfoundland, Canada


In April of this year, a coyote hunter on New Brunswick's Acadian Peninsula shot and killed an 86 pound canid that DNA testing determined to be a wolf. It is believed to be the first wolf killed in New Brunswick since the 19th century.

This follows a wolf killed in Newfoundland in March of this year and it is at least the ninth wolf known to have been killed in the northeastern U.S. and eastern Canada in an area from Massachusetts north to Newfoundland. It is yet more evidence that wolves are attempting to recolonize parts of eastern North America where they were extirpated a century or more ago.

The New Brunswick wolf was determined to be a gray/eastern wolf hybrid. Gray wolves are typically found in more northerly regions of Canada while the smaller eastern wolves are found in a band across southern Ontario and Quebec. Gray/eastern hybrids do occur in southern and central Canada and are most likely the "new" wolves that are recolonizing eastern North America south of the St. Lawrence River. Wolves can travel hundreds of miles during dispersal from their pack and in the winter months, the frozen St. Lawrence River upriver from Montreal serves as a possible conduit for wolf dispersal.

2nd reported Wolf in New Foundland documented this Summer

The killing of the New Brunswick wolf has prompted The Maine Wolf Coalition to renew calls for a Bi-National Recovery Plan for wolves in this region. In a letter to U.S. Secretary of Interior Ken Salazar and Canadian Environment Minister Peter Kent, the coalition states, "Some time ago our organization requested that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service work with Canada on a Bi-National Recovery Plan for this wolf.

  With the recent documentation of wolves in New Brunswick and Newfoundland, we believe such a plan is needed more than ever. We again ask the U.S. and Canada to work together to promote the natural recolonization of this animal. It is in the best interest not only of our environment, but of our economy."

The Maine Wolf Coalition, Inc. is a non-profit 501(c)3 corporation dedicated to wolf recovery in Maine through research, education and protection. For more information, please contact John Glowa at (207) 445-2360                   jglowa@roadrunner.com.

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    MORE FROM THE MAINE WOLF COALITION REGARDING WHAT IS BELIEVED AS A 2ND WOLF SIGHTING IN NEW FOUNDLAND THIS YEAR

Parks Canada is reporting a second possible wolf-this one in Terra Nova National Park. The first wolf documented in Newfoundland in nearly a century was killed this year by a coyote hunter. As reported in The Telegram of Saint John’s, Newfoundland, the second animal was videotaped earlier this year. By all appearances the animal is a wolf. It’s long legs and very large feet are indicative of the Labrador gray wolf.

Wolves disappeared from Newfoundland in the early years of the 20th century as their primary prey, the caribou, were hunted nearly to extinction on the island. It is not known why wolves disappeared from Newfoundland, but the decrease in caribou numbers is believed to have played a major role. In the years since, caribou numbers have risen dramatically and the introduced moose population has exploded. The availability of natural prey is no longer an issue.

the first documented Wolf in New Foundland this Summer was shot by a Coyote hunter

In the 1980′s, coywolves made their way onto Newfoundland traveling on ice floes. The range of the gray wolf in Labrador and Quebec extends to within ten miles of Newfoundland’s Northern Peninsula, just across from the Strait of Belle Isle. Each winter and spring, pack ice pushed down by the Labrador current fills the Strait, making shipping impossible and allowing wolves and polar bears to reach Newfoundland’s shores.

  In early 2012, four polar bears that reached Newfoundland were shot and killed. Coastal southern Labrador and eastern Quebec is barren land. Trees are sparse and there is little for wolves to eat. It is not hard to imagine that one or more wolves would want to attempt to cross the ice for more fertile territory. Upon reaching Newfoundland, wolves would find in excess of 100,000 moose and caribou combined, far more than the sparse caribou and moose populations that exist in eastern Quebec and southeast Labrador.

It remains to be seen how the province of Newfoundland and Labrador will respond to this wolf and the possibility that the wolf has returned. Newfoundland’s burgeoning moose population has become a serious hazard to motorists and hunting seasons have been expanded. The return of the wolf will undoubtedly help to keep the moose population in check.

   Newfoundland’s caribou population is declining, believed to be largely due to calf predation by black bears and habitat disruption. The return of the wolf may help to reduce the number of coywolves that also prey on caribou calves. In any event, the Newfoundland and Labrador government can ill-afford to ignore the situation. Many people in Newfoundland would welcome the wolf back and there is abundant habitat and prey for wolves. Rather than bury their heads in the sand, government officials need to wake up and smell the coffee, or in this case, the wolf scat