Toronto – On June 10, Joanne Barnaby of Hay River went into Wood Buffalo National Park with a friend looking for morels. To speed up the hunt, they took off in separate directions. Barnaby, who usually carries a gun because of bears, had decided to not bring a weapon and had only her dog, Joey, as protection. This decision almost resulted in her death:
A starving black wolf found the pair slightly over a mile from her truck.
“I knew what it was right away,” said Barnaby from her home in Hay River, N.W.T.
“I heard him before I saw him,” said Barnaby. “All four legs were spread out. He was in a very aggressive stance.
Joey kept the wolf from attacking, but the wolf persisted after them. For almost 12 hours, the wolf repeatedly cut Barnaby and Joey off from reaching the highway.
“He looked old to me, but he was smart,” she said. “It took me a while to realize how smart he was, and that he was actually being very, very strategic in trying to separate me from my dog and wear me down. I don’t think he was strong enough to take us both on. And I think he knew that.”
By nighttime, a thick swarms of mosquitoes began to attack Barnaby and she had started to have difficulty seeing her surroundings.
“It was pretty crazy. It was hard to concentrate and make decisions. They were everywhere — inside my ears, inside my eyes.
Fatigued, dehydrated and nearly blinded by the swarm, she almost gave up until she heard a mother bear calling its cub and had an idea: She moved in the direction of the sounds in the hope that her presence would attract the mother and scare off the wolf.
Her planned worked and the wolf finally stopped following. Barnaby and Joey found their way back to the highway and a search party hours later.
A spokesman for Parks Canada says that Wood Buffalo National Park has previously documented “zero” incidents of wolf attacks or encounters like the one Barnaby describes.
What do you think of her story? Let us know in the comment section below?
Have you ever managed to pit two wild creatures against each other for survival?
Photo:
Joanne Barnaby alongside her friend after getting away from the wolf.
Sources:
N.W.T. woman pits bear against stalking wolf to save her own life
N.W.T. woman pits bear against stalking wolf to save her own life
Canadian woman tries to pit bear and wolf against each other for survival
https://www.thestar.com/news/world/2016/06/17/canadian-woman-tries-to-pit-bear-and-wolf-against-each-other-for-survival.html