Emily Freitas has lived on the border of Far North Bicentennial Park for a decade, but it wasn’t until late August when she first saw a pack of wolves in the city. She was walking her three dogs on a trail less than a half- mile from her east Anchorage home.
“The first wolf came out of the woods, and then the dogs just froze, and then the rest came out. It just stood there and stayed. They all just stared at each other for five [or] 10 minutes,” she said
It was around 9 p.m. when she saw the six wolves. They were about 50 yards away – close enough that Freitas snapped a picture of the pack staring directly back at her.
She has seen the animals a few times since, as recently as Nov. 6 when one ran down the trail away from her.
“It was 11 in the morning, but it was walking down the trail towards us, and then it stopped,” she said. “It saw us, and then the dog saw it, and it just turned and ran.”
She said she thinks they’ve been in the area because of a moose carcass.
Several other residents who recreate in the greater Anchorage area have reported seeing or hearing wolves recently. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game confirms a trio of wolves attacked a pet dog in south Anchorage in October, injuring the animal.
Anchorage area biologist Cory Stantorf said his department doesn’t have much data on the animals in the city, but they’re hoping to learn more through a GPS collaring study that started in 2023.
“We wanted to fill that gap because they're an important predator on moose and Dall sheep, occasionally a mountain goat,” Stantorf said. “There's also the public safety aspect of it.”
Two wolves are currently collared, he said, and biologists hope they provide a window into the animals’ behavior and movements.
Stantorf estimated there are two or three packs of wolves in the game unit that borders the city, but said negative encounters are unusual.
Fish and Game isn’t concerned about the reported interactions and Stantorf stressed residents shouldn’t worry either. Anchorage is home to a variety of wild animals, including wolverines, foxes and lynx, and Stantorf said the sightings are a reminder we’re in the animals’ territory.
Wolves rarely attack humans, although a couple killed a woman near Chignik Lake on the Alaska Peninsula in 2010. It was only the second documented fatal wolf attack in North America in history. Although it’s rare, biologists say wolves occasionally kill dogs.
A white wolf that roamed the city in 2016 made headlines for dragging a caribou hide into the woods. The wolf, which was female, was eventually hit and killed by a car. Last year, an animal that looked a lot like a wolf but also a dog, was loose in the city. The animal, nicknamed “Gary,” turned out to be a wolf hybrid and was eventually found dead at a busy intersection.
Rick Sinnott, who was the Anchorage-area biologist for more than a decade, said residents are much more likely to come across a bear or moose than a wolf. The animals’ behavior is complex, but he said they tend to avoid people.
“Every once in a while you get this pattern where there's a pack that just tends to get a little bolder. With wildlife, you don't always know what they're thinking,” Sinnott said.
That could be what’s happening now, he said.
Anchorage resident Donna Gail Shaw agrees. Last year, she captured a video of a wolf pack attacking a moose and calf on a game camera she manages. It was the first time she spotted wolves since putting up the cameras a decade ago.
Her cameras caught them multiple times this summer, which she said is extremely unusual, but exciting.
“It shocked me to see them two years in a row, because I don't usually see them that frequently. That to me means maybe they're changing where they're going. I don't know if it's more wolves or just their patterns are different,” Shaw said.
Shaw’s cameras have also captured coyotes, which are sometimes mistaken for wolves.
Freitas, the woman who walked up on a pack, hasn’t changed her route. She said her friends and family expressed concern. But she’s not too worried about the interactions, and said seeing wild animals on her neighborhood trails keeps her walks interesting.
“We've seen foxes, lynx, just about everything, moose, bear, porcupines,” she said. “If they would have approached me, or if the dogs would have chased them or something, I would have been more concerned.”
