Lac La Biche County officials say that recent reports of wolves roaming in local parks were more of a husky-sized misunderstanding than a dog-gone fact.
At the same time hundreds of evacuees from a recent wildfire near Fort McMurray were being temporarily housed in the Lac La Biche community, local officials were hearing reports that wolves may also have made the area their new home.
The reports were quickly acted upon, says Lac La Biche County's association CAO of Recreation and Community Services Darrell Lessmeister.
Peace officers and Lac La Biche County staff were called to patrol several areas of the community, including the Alexander Hamilton Community Park, where witnesses had said large wolves had been seen. While no immediate updates were given while the evacuation order was in effect, Lessmeister recently told Lakeland This Week that the reports had been quickly disproved. And the wolves were actually large dogs.
"A couple of weeks ago there were reports of three wolves running through town, around Alexandra Hamilton Park and the Bold Center," he said. "They were picked up by the Peace Officers and they turned out to be Husky-cross dogs."
The five dogs were held at the local animal shelter before they were picked up by the owners who had been displaced in the evacuation.