VICTORIA - A lone male wolf that spent last weekend sniffing out a busy urban neighbourhood in Victoria, just steps from British Columbia's legislature, has been safely relocated to a new territory much farther from human contact.
A social media post by the Conservation Officer Service says the mature male wolf was assessed by veterinarians early Monday and found to be uninjured and in good health.
The service says the animal was safely released hours later in a coastal habitat on the west coast of Vancouver Island.
Conservation officers say they are confident the wolf is the same one that has lived alone for the last seven years on Discovery Island about a kilometre off the Victoria coast.
They believe it managed to swim through the treacherous currents that sweep past the tiny island in order to reach Victoria, but aren't certain why it left its long-term home.
The wolf, dubbed Takaya by researchers, inspired a television documentary that aired last year but the Conservation Officer Service says the decision was made not to return it to the island.
"It is not being released on Discovery Island as it left for a reason – the wolf was looking for food or resources, and for the safety of the public and the animal, it was relocated out of the urban environment," the social media post said.
The wolf was first spotted in Victoria's James Bay neighbourhood on Saturday, but eluded capture until Sunday when it calmly settled down in a narrow space between a house and a fence, giving officers time to tranquilize it and remove it from the area.
"The wolf had not shown any aggression towards people while it was roaming the Victoria neighbourhood over the weekend," the conservation service said in its post.