A wolf killed a dog Monday morning along the Brotherhood Bridge Trail, the second time a wolf’s killed a dog in Juneau in six months.
Ryan Scott is a wildlife supervisor for Southeast Alaska for the Department of Fish and Game, one of the agencies that responded to the attack.
Scott declined to name the dog owner, but said they lost sight of the dog along the tree line. The owner eventually found the dog dead next to a deer carcass just off the trail. The site was about 300 yards from the trailhead on Glacier Highway. Officials were called about 8:45 a.m.
Scott’s theory is the wolf killed the deer and was protecting its kill, both normal behaviors.
“There was already a kill site there, and potentially, the dog wandered into it,” Scott said. “You know, the wolf didn’t take the dog, it took the deer that was already dead.”
Scott said the dog was off leash and that the owner thinks they spotted the wolf leaving with a piece of a deer.
Scott said officials removed the remains of the deer to reduce the chance of more trailside wildlife encounters.
Scott said he doesn’t think there’s any public safety or pet safety issue out of the ordinary on Brotherhood Bridge Trail. He said just stay vigilant.
“Keep an eye on your pets,” Scott said. “I mean, these are such random things that happen. But it’s just keeping an eye on what’s going on and paying attention to our surroundings.”
Here’s Scott’s advice for wolf encounters.
“Make yourself big, lots of noise, don’t run, stand your ground. It’s very similar to what we would recommend for bears,” Scott said.
The last negative wolf encounter Scott was aware of was in November on the Lemon Creek Trail, when a Chihuahua was killed.
Jeremy Hsieh is the deputy managing editor of the KTOO newsroom in Juneau. He’s a podcast fiend who’s worked in journalism since high school as a reporter, editor and television producer. He ran Gavel Alaska for 360 North from 2011 to 2016, and is big on experimenting with novel tools and mediums (including the occasional animated gif) to tell stories and demystify the news. Jeremy’s an East Coast transplant who moved to Juneau in 2008.
