By Keven Drews

TOFINO — A section of Pacific Rim National Park Reserve was reopened to the public Wednesday following a wolf attack on a pet dog.
Bob Hansen, a wildlife-human conflict specialist at the park, said the Willowbrae Trail, Half Moon Bay, Florencia Bay and a section of the Nuu-chah-nulth Trail to South Beach were closed for about 12 hours starting at about 5:30 p.m. July 1.
The sections, all in the park’s Long Beach Unit, were re-opened Wednesday morning.
“We wanted to remove any chance there would be any other incident,” said Hansen. “The difficulty was we didn’t know what we were dealing with.”
At about 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, an unidentified local woman was walking her two dogs – one of which was a small, poodle-like animal, about 13 years old – along the Willowbrae Trail, just south of the Tofino-Ucluelet junction.
The dogs, said Hansen, were off-leash and lagging about 80 metres behind when the woman heard a commotion.
She returned to where she could see her remaining dog. She could hear but not see a commotion in the nearby bushes.
Parks officials were called in, and the search began.
“We closed down the whole area,” said Hansen. “We did not find any sign of the dog itself.”
However, Hansen said park officials later found wolf tracks on Florencia Beach, and an analysis found the tracks were laid shortly after the attack.
Parks officials conducted another search shortly after dawn Wednesday but found no new signs of a wolf.
Hansen said park officials often see signs of one or two wolves, rarely more. The animals are residents of the general area and often pass through the park.
Hansen said the incident and several recent cougar sightings mean people should keep their animals on a leash and review what they should do should they encounter a wolf or cougar.
“It’s been shown in most cases wolves and cougars can be chased away fairly effectively if people shout and holler and look big and get a clear message to carnivores they should stay away,” he said.
“Keep pets on a leash at all times and that will increase the safety of the pets and prevent conflict with these predators. When they are off the leash they can fall prey to predators.”

Keven.drews@westcoaster.ca