Last weekend, my mum and I went hiking with our dog when we spotted a wolf. It was quite close, about 15 metres away from us, and it was just watching us and slowly walked around shrubs and trees, minding its own business. Even though it was pretty close, it would disappear about of sight easily, and camouflage into the forest that at times we would not see it. Then all of a sudden, we would spot it again just standing there. As we walked further up the trail, away from the wolf, to the top where we were above it, because we were on a hill, I noticed it went onto our path we had just walked up and was sniffing around. It was probably sniffing at my dog’s scent. It kept slowly walking up the trail, so we decided to keep walking on to get out of its way to continue the hike. It was a very cool experience, and I am excited to know that I have now seen Canada’s top three largest predators (not including the Polar Bear): Black Bear, Cougar, Grey Wolf. There are hundred of wolves on Vancouver Island, but they do not like being around people so most of the population is away from the cities, meaning that people rarely get to encounter them on the island. In the Autumn, my mum volunteers at Rocky Point Bird Observatory to band owls (mainly Northern Saw-whet Owls) for bird monitoring purposes and I will sometimes go with her to help retrieve them from the nets. At a particular bird banding station sight, you can often hear wolves howling down by the beaches at night. It is an incredible feeling listening to them which is one of the many reasons why they are one of my favourite animals.