Launching the Ontario Wolf Survey

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  • January 6, 2023

ontario-wolf-survey As 2016 drew to a close, we launched a new non-invasive research program called the Ontario Wolf Survey.  Designed to target areas identified within the Algonquin/eastern wolf’s suspected range, we collect urine, scat and hair samples for DNA profiling to identify whether local canids are either Algonquin wolves or the more numerous eastern coyotes.

By identifying more Algonquin wolves living in protected and unprotected areas of the province, our data will contribute to the information collected by provincial staff from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry, as well as the Eastern Wolf Survey. At Earthroots, we realize that good policy comes from good science, and that carnivore conservation can be accomplished once we have a better idea of where rare wolves live, and how they are surviving in a landscape where they only receive partial protection.

Thanks to many generous donations to our crowdfund campaign, we completed the first round of our Ontario Wolf Survey in an area where the government has found only 1 Algonquin wolf so far. We identified and followed wolf/coyote tracks on back roads, trails, hydrolines and deep within crown forests and collected 7 frozen urine samples that  were left by canids marking their territory. These samples will be delivered to Trent University’s Natural Resources DNA Profiling and Forensics Centre for species and gender identification, and will directly contribute to provincial and academic research on the Algonquin wolf and eastern coyotes.

wolforcoyoteWe will be returning to the same area over the coming months to survey and set up a  trail camera to capture images of the elusive animals we track. We are planning  surveys further afield to fill in the geographic gaps that other researchers are unable to  get to - please consider contributing directly to our work by visiting our Ontario Wolf  Survey campaign page - donations provide you with tax receipts!

To learn more about the methods we use to collect samples for DNA analysis, and to find out how these date are used by biologists, you can read the results published in this month’s issue of the scientific journal Diversity and Distributions, featuring Dr. Linda Rutledge’s Eastern Wolf Survey.

Sign up as a Wolf Defender to receive updates about the Ontario Wolf Survey!

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