Saskatchewan gov’t denies wolf attack (November 28, 2005)

More than two weeks after the death of 22-year-old geological engineering student Kenton Joel Carnegie in far northern Saskatchewan, the province’s Ministry of Environment refuses to acknowledge — at least publicly — that Carnegie likely died as a result of a wolf attack.

“There was no direct linkage to wolves,” says Art Jones, a spokesman with the Saskatchewan Ministry of the Environment. “We don’t have an eyewitness account. All we know is that a young man was found dead and he had been scavenged. We are unable to determine whether the man was killed or whether he died of other causes.”

However, the evidence supporting a wolf attack is compelling.

A spokesman with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) in Saskatchewan says that when Carnegie’s body was found on Nov. 8, near an entrance to a trail in Points North Landing, 500 km north of La Ronge, Sask., there were wolves present, wolf tracks in the snow around Carnegie’s body, and bodily injuries consistent with those from a “canine-type” animal. And initial results of an autopsy revealed that Carnegie, a native of Oshawa, Ont., died as a result of injuries sustained from an animal encounter. (This time of year, most bears in the region are hibernating.)

Jones maintains that there has never been a documented case of a wolf killing anyone in North America. There was, however, a wolf attack on a worker at the Key Lake uranium facility less than a year ago (T.N.M. Jan. 14-20, 2005) Fred Desjarlais, an employee of Cameco (CCO-T, CCJ-N), was jogging back to his temporary residence, about 3 km away from the main plant, when he was attacked. The burly Desjarlais managed to fend off the animal until help arrived.

After Carnegie’s death, the Saskatchewan government issued a “predator attack” warning in the Points North area where conservation officers later shot two wolves at a local dump. Meanwhile, a First Nations band in the region issued a “wolf warning” and told residents to remain inside after dark and not to travel alone.

On Nov. 8, witnesses in a camp at Points North, an outpost with an airstrip, outfitters and lodges, told police that Carnegie went for a walk on his own, telling those in camp he would return by 5 p.m. When he hadn’t arrived by 7 p.m., a search party was formed and Carnegie’s body was discovered soon after.

Carnegie was on his fall co-op term in his third year of geological engineering at the University of Waterloo in Ontario. He and a colleague were in the Athabasca basin performing airborne surveying for Ottawa-based Sander Geophysics. The wilderness area hosts some of the richest uranium deposits in the world, and with prices hovering around US$30 per lb., the commodity is generating a lot of interest.

Two days before Carnegie was killed, he and his colleague, as well as some mechanics from Points Athabasca, Sask., ate an evening meal at a local lodge with Bill Topping, a part-time car pilot (a guide who leads heavy trucks through the labyrinth of dirt roads in northern Saskatchewan).

Topping says both students were touring the area and taking pictures because their surveying equipment was grounded for reasons unknown to him.

“They had real nice digital pictures of these wolves. I said, ‘You guys are lucky to be alive,'” recalls Topping. He told the students about what he thinks was a wolf attack months earlier at the Paull River Wilderness Camp, a few hundred kilometres south of Points North.

“We had a big Airedale (terrier) in camp, and something killed the dog twenty paces from the generator and ate it. He ate forty-five pounds of a sixty-five-pound dog. He ate the paws, the claws, the teeth,” says Topping. “Wolves are the smartest creature in the bush.”

Topping says another local man, who witnessed the grisly scene where Carnegie’s body was found, described three separate places where it appeared Carnegie was knocked down in his attempts to escape.

Among Canada’s largest faculties of engineering, Waterloo is known for its small classes, but Carnegie’s class was the smallest of the lot, with only about 20 students. Waterloo Professor Neil Thomson, who taught Carnegie courses on fluid mechanics and advanced math, says Carnegie was a “great kid to teach” and described him as bright and compassionate. Carnegie had a radio show on the campus station dubbed “Strange Brew.”

In Thomson’s mind, the incident in northern Saskatchewan raises some questions for the Waterloo engineering program.

“We have students in fields that take them outside a lot,” says Thomson. “We have to ensure that our students are secure and safe wherever they go . . . (Carnegie’s death) will cause us to pause and reflect on what we actually do.” He adds that engineering students at Waterloo get a small amount of safety training. This is the first student death during a co-op placement in Thomson’s 18 years on staff.

Sander Geophysics has worked with numerous students from Waterloo and is reviewing what happened at Points North.

“We are in the process of an investigation which will result in procedures to prevent any similar incidents in the future,” says Luise Sander, co-president of Sander.

Some in northern Saskatchewan remain unconvinced.

“Can I see (a death) happening again? For sure,” says Wayne Galloway, a wilderness lodge owner in northern Saskatchewan since 1981. “We’ve got a bad situation here. We’ve got an animal that’s having a population increase as a predator, and a population decrease in their food supply.”

Galloway says that several substantial forest fires last summer placed additional strain on the region’s over-taxed ecosystem.

Alberta and British Columbia operate sanctioned wolf hunts to help control the population. There are no such hunts in Saskatchewan. Galloway says that in the 1950s and ’60s various governments in western Canada poisoned wolves in attempts to control the population, though that practice has long since ceased.

“The trappers are not trapping to any great extent and there are no other controls. And (the wolves) are protected,” says Galloway.

In Saskatchewan, residents are only allowed to shoot wolves if they prove to be a nuisance. This requires a permit unless wolves are deemed to be an immediate threat to humans or livestock on private property.

The RCMP estimates that its investigation into Carnegie’s death will continue until mid-December.

Meanwhile, parties close to Carnegie and his family have established the Kenton Carnegie Memorial Fund. Donations by mail should reference the fund and be sent to the University of Waterloo, Office of Development, South Campus Hall, 200 University Ave. West, Waterloo, Ont. N2L 3G1.

Readers can also visit a website memorial for Carnegie at kentoncarnegie.com