Kayaker fights off hungry wolf on North Coast[/align]
Larry Pynn, CanWest News Service
Published: Wednesday, August 01, 2007
[/align]VANCOUVER -- A Port Moody kayaker's recent life-and-death struggle with a hungry wolf on B.C.'s remote North Coast -- the second wolf attack in the province in seven years, and the first thought to involve predatory intent -- has prompted a conservation officer to warn against taking wolf encounters too lightly.
"This was a predatory wolf attack," conservation officer James Zucchelli confirmed from his Bella Coola Valley office.
The 31-year-old kayaker was setting up his tent on a beach on the coast when an old female wolf emerged from the bushes and attacked, Zucchelli said.
The kayaker fought with the wolf for several minutes, suffering bites to his leg and hands as he tried to pry its jaws apart and put it in a headlock.
He dragged himself and the wolf several metres down the beach to his kayak, removed a 10-cm knife from his life- jacket, and repeatedly stabbed the animal.
The wolf fled and the kayaker called for help on his marine radio. Employees from a nearby resort rescued him, then killed the wolf with a shotgun blast.

© Times Colonist (Victoria) 2007[/align][/align]
Posted by DaveO at 10:15 AM [/align][/align]