Arctic Wolves @ CFS Alert

[Anonymous]

Here's a couple of images of the arctic wolves that I saw every day during my stay at CFS Alert.  They really are amazing animals.

Pups taking an afternoon nap



Alpha female on the prowl

[Howieh]

Neat shots, when were they taken? (btw, probably a stupid question, but I assume we are referring to Alert on northern Ellesmere Island?)

[Anonymous]

Howieh, thanks for looking.

The shots were taken in August during Op BOXTOP, a biannual resupply mission to CFS Alert on northern Ellesmere Island as you indicated.  This was the first Op BOXTOP that utilised C-17's in its entirety, as opposed to the venerable Hercules.

The mission, 24 hours of daylight, arctic wolves, hares, fox, and a tonne of birds made for a great stay and several feature articles in the works.

[Howieh]

WAY back in '62 and '63 I worked the two summers as a weather observer at a camp on the beautiful shores of Lake Hazen. I guess it's about 80nm southwest of Alert as the yeager flies (no crows up there!). I know it's hard to believe in the age of digital photography but I shot 4 rolls of slides altogether in both years. It's probably too late for this year but if you get to Alert during July or early August try to arrange a side trip to Hazen Camp, it's truly an amazing place for about 6 weeks every summer. I climbed this mountain several times (hope this works and doesn't violate any copyrights!)

http://www.tradewindsphoto.ca/main_QNP3.htm

[Anonymous]

I hear you on the jaegers - have photos of a long tailed about 10ft away from me...

I was there during early August (up there on the 13th, returned on the 18th) and it certainly was nowhere near enough time to take it all in.  Then again, it being a once in a lifetime opportunity, it wasn't something I could pass up.

As I'm sure you can attest - it's an entirely different world up there, especially with the animals present.  I missed a polar bear and musk ox by a week, and had seals staying in the harbour right beside the base...amazing.

[Howieh]

No seals or polar bears but just about everything else: yeagers, terns, arctic hare, weasels, foxes, wolves, muskox, etc. I have a great wolf story but I'm on my way out so I'll save it for later (will try to condense it!). I may head to the brickworks for some shooting but the winds are picking up so I don't know...back later.

[egret]

What lovely creatures!

tks


Egret  

[Anonymous]

Looking forward to your story!

Thanks for the kind words Egret.

[ravynne40]

Very nice shots. What a great experience.

[Cody]

Amazing Attila!

[Howieh]

My observing buddy and I arrived at Hazen Camp in mid May of 1963. A few days later a DC-3 landed, carrying a group of geologists, a team of huskies borrowed (rented?) from Eskimos in a settlement near Thule, Greenland and a couple of Eliason Motor Toboggans. I can't believe I found this, check out this link:

http://www.eliason-snowmobile.com/

They only planned to stay a few hours but the dogs were pretty restless so they turned them all loose and, big surprise, when it was time to leave one of the 'pups' refused to cooperate and had to be left behind. They told us to put out a block of dog food every day and when the summer party arrived one of the technicians would catch the dog (he actually did within an hour btw!). Also before they left I got one of the guys to help me drill a fishing hole a few hundred feet offshore and I would drive out and jig for arctic char while sitting on the Eliason. A few days after they left I'm out fishing when I hear a crunching noise close by; I look up to see myself surrounded by five (probably very hungry) wolves. My guess is that they were not more than thirty feet away; fortunately the engine started on the first pull and I headed back to shore. What happened next was truly amazing. Since I was no longer available they started chasing the husky and we watched as they took turns trying to bring him down. Not only could they not overpower the dog, but one of the wolves suffered an injured front leg and stayed around after the rest of the pack left, and guess what?? the dog and the wolf became best buddies and the dog even allowed the wolf to share his daily food block. To be continued...

[Howieh]

The summer party arrived in early June and as promised the dog was caught by one of them within the hour. Unfortunately this meant the loss of a companion for the wolf and since most of us felt that a three legged wolf would have little chance in the wild it was decided to put him down. Some of us had misgivings but in the long run I suppose it was for the best...and that's not the end of the story where I was concerned because I was also in change of maintaining the diesel generator which was located in it's own hut between the kitchen and lab huts.

 The day after the wolf was shot I entered the diesel hut and was greeted with one of the most powerful (and BAD) odors I've ever encountered; without telling anybody the guy who shot the wolf cleaned out the skull and left it behind the diesel to dry out! I've lost track of my arctic slides (I think my son has them) but if I ever get them back I'll scan them and post some pictures of the wildlife found in the area, which has now become a staging area for tours, hikers, etc.

[Howieh]

We hate to admit it but some of us are old enough to remember when they showed newsreels instead of previews with first run movies. Anyway, in 1963 a movie maker from the NFB dropped in to do some filming around the camp. The documentary film, "Freshwater Lake at the Top of the World" was ready in October and I saw it in a Montreal theatre; of course it was much better than the feature film, which I don't even remember!