5…4…3…2…
...were left when I saw them last on a sunny afternoon in January. Within just a few midwinter weeks, they had lost almost the entire family. Observably frightened, disturbed and disoriented the two travelled down the frozen Takhini River, fighting the boreal breeze and the dancing blue shadow demons cast from the trees swaying in the wind. Then the two disappeared behind the river bend.
How different was the sight when the family was still intact; each member empowered by the other. I observed the five bathing in the autumn sun on a nearby slope, hunting mice and gophers on the field and playfully searching the river banks for washed up salmon that had not returned after their journey from the sea.
I have waited, hoped, and prayed for the two remaining ones to return, to bring back life and hope to the valley, but too many weeks have passed. No doubt, the last two wolves have been trapped, snared and are now dead.
Peter Zimmermann
Whitehorse