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Photographer catches rare sighting of lone wolf

Sep 21, 2018 | 4:06 PM

A local photographer is at it again, this time capturing video and pictures of a lone wolf in the boreal forest near Grande Prairie.

After Amos Wiebe finishes his regular job for the day, he spends most of his evenings touring around with his camera, looking for nature to capture. On Wednesday he got something he has been waiting a long time for, when he witnessed a wolf walk across the road and howl into the forest.

He had been filming a brown bear that was eating on the side of the road when a logging truck went by and scared it off.  So, he went further down the road when all of a sudden, he noticed a wolf standing in the middle of the road.  A second vehicle came along, and the wolf bolted into the bush.

Wiebe says he hadn’t gotten a picture yet but didn’t want to give up. So, he went around the bend and stopped for about 15 minutes and then drove back and parked on the road and waited patiently.

“All of a sudden I could hear wolves howling on one side of the road, and then he howled on the other side of the road. So, I thought I’ll just wait it out, and sure enough he came walking up over the road,” he said. “It kind of walked over the road and then looked at me and howled.  And then it went further down the road and howled again and it must have met with the pack because all of the sudden things got quiet.”

He says it’s a moment he will not soon forget.

“Last year I saw wolves, but they were running across the road, so I didn’t really get that long moment to enjoy it. This time the wolf was more relaxed, he really wasn’t too concerned about me, he knew I was there.  Thankfully there were no vehicles to scare it away and I got to enjoy the moment,” he said. 

“Wolves are more elusive and nobody ever really sees them, especially during the daytime, so to see that was quite awesome,” he said. “I was so excited, I just drove home and thought I gotta go take a look at this footage!”

Famous Amos Photography has a huge following on Facebook, with over 53,000 people liking the page and sharing its pictures and videos.

Wiebe says he enjoys sharing his photography and showing people, who may not get a chance to see on their own, the busy forest surrounding our busy city.