Zoo declared no risk after wolf escape, but docs show B.C. RCMP saw potential for 'conflict'

RCMP and conservation officers seen at the Greater Vancouver Zoo on Aug. 16, 2022.

VANCOUVER -

Internal RCMP documents show police sawpotential for human-wolf “conflict” after the animals escaped their enclosure at the Greater Vancouver Zoo in August, while the facility announced there was no danger to the public.

The zoo in Aldergrove was shut for three days from Aug. 16 as workers and conservation officers searched for the wolves, which Langley RCMP said got loose when someone deliberately cut a hole in their pen.

Documents provided to The Canadian Press under a freedom of information request reveal discussions between conservation officers, government officials and zoo staff over safety risks and what to tell the public, and confusion over how many animals escaped as they decided who was responsible for the capture.

Government officials and police raise the safety implications of a wolf making it off the zoo grounds. At least two wolves did so, including an adult that was later found dead by a public road.

The documents refer to zoo staff telling conservation officers on the morning of Aug. 16 that at least one wolf may have escaped the grounds. The facility issued a statement the same day saying “there is no danger to the public”.

In an email chain from that day, government spokesman Andrew Patrick said the matter would become a public safety issue once a wolf was deemed outside the confines of the facility. At that point, he said, the conservation service and RCMP would take the lead.

Chris Doyle, deputy chief at B.C. Conservation Officer Service, wrote that zoo vets told the service that the wolves posed no threat to public or livestock as the animals were “very timid towards humans.”

An hour later, he said the animals were “not a public safety risk” and the service did not need to respond until they showed behaviour that was “a moderate or high risk to the public.”

“That threshold has not been met to this point. Currently, the ZOO is leading the response,” he wrote.

But government official Paul Cornsurged his colleagues not to “downplay public risk.”

A separate internal report from Langley RCMP the same day lists the potential for “conflict” between human or domestic animals and one escaped wolf as a strategic consideration, if it had in fact escaped the zoo grounds.

The zoo did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Text messages from a group chat of conservation officers the morning of the escape also reveal a debate around how much force should be used to capture the wolves.

“Idea is to try and drug them and get them back in their pen so have lots of drugs,” conservation officer Jack Trudgian wrote in a text.

The goal, he added, was to “try and keep them alive.”

Another document illustrates the chaotic scene that ensued as workers and conservation officers used darts to sedate, capture and return the animals to their pen.

The report by Emergency Management BC said initial information from the zoo the morning of Aug. 16 indicated that “at least one wolf may have escaped the zoo grounds.”

It provides a play-by-play following a staff member's early morning discovery of the hole in the enclosure.

It said three pups remained inside the enclosure and about five others had initially been spotted in the zoo's animatronic dinosaur exhibit.

The report said workers tried to usher the wolves back toward their enclosure, but the conservation service responded and helped recapture three of the wolves.

“Zoo workers ended up seeing a wolf in the dinosaur exhibit, and wildlife vet Ken McQuist was able to dart it and immobilize it,” it said.

The report said a conservation officer then shot another large wolf with a dart that later “succumbed to the drugs in the creek” and staff had to quickly retrieve the wolf “before its head went under the water.”

The third wolf, found near grizzly exhibit, was fired at twice and hit with a dart on the second attempt.

The zoo's deputy general manager Menita Prasad told media two days later, on Aug. 18, that two grey wolves had left the property, but that all others had been safely returned.

She then confirmed one of the two wolves, a three-year-old female called Chia, had found dead on a roadside.

The search officially ended the next day when the last wolf, a one-year-old female canine named Tempest, was found safe and returned to its pack.

Langley RCMP said at the time that it was investigating the incident as a suspected case of unlawful entry and vandalism. The zoo reopened the following weekend.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 19, 2022.