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Few people ever get to see a wolf in the wild, much less touch one. But that’s exactly what Gloria Morissette did recently when she helped rescue a wolf that had been hit by a vehicle.
She is the president and founder of the Turtle Pond Wildlife Centre in Sudbury.
On Saturday evening, January 24, she got a call about a wolf that had been struck on Highway 17 near Hagar, about 50 kilometres from Sudbury’s centre.
The driver and two Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) constables were seeking help on how to help the injured animal.
Morisette and her husband jumped in the car and went to the scene.
The wolf had crawled as far as it could, but had taken refuge, where the driver and police were keeping an eye on him.
“He went into an industrial garage area where there were a lot of debilitated vehicles in the parking lot,” she said. “And he was under one of these snow-covered vehicles. So he had wedged himself right underneath that vehicle.”
The animal was in shock, shaking and not very conscious in –30C weather Morisette said.
It took all five people to scoop the injured wolf from its refuge. But she said they weren’t concerned about bites.
I gave them all a big hug at the end- Gloria Morissette, president, Turtle Pond Wildlife Centre
“We use nets and catch poles and we have big blankets to cover them with,” she said. “You’re wearing heavy gloves and that sort of thing. So it’s not like you’re putting your hands right in his face. He didn’t try to run away.”
Morissette said she was impressed by the compassion and team work of everyone involved.
“I gave them all a hug at the end,” she said.
Then Morissette whisked the wolf back to their centre in Sudbury where they warmed it up and treated it for shock. But without an X-ray machine, they couldn’t diagnose its injuries.
Wolf named in memory of military police dog
What they did do, was give him was a name.
The man who had first hit the animal, and then stayed to rescue him, served in the military, said Morisette.
He asked the wolf be named Vimy, after a military police dog that had passed away in 2021 and in connection with the battle in France where Canadian soldiers were killed during the first World War.
Vimy was sent for medical treatment to the Aspen Valley Wildlife Centre in Rosseau, about 35 kilometres southeast of Parry Sound, where he was diagnosed with two broken back legs on Monday and was undergoing surgery.
Vimy, a wolf that was hit on a highway east of Sudbury, will undergo a procedure to see if he can use his back two legs again. (Submitted/Turtle Pond Wildlife Centre)Recovery possible, but not certain
His prognosis remains uncertain, although the assistant director of animal welfare was optimistic.
Mon Kledsai said the veterinarian would put pins in the legs to stabilize them, then Vimy would be put in a pen and given supportive care to make sure the bones were healing.
He would then go to a bigger enclosure to see if he would be able to run around, and then released back to the wild.
Kledsai said there is reason to hope.
“We had a case of a coyote we saw that had two broken front legs and she was a successful story,” she said. “She was released. She was able to use both of her legs and running around. She was released a couple years ago.”