Animal Life
We look forward to receiving your observations regarding wildlife sightings and other interesting activities that take place around our lakes. We will attempt to update this page on a regular basis with data collected from our Lakekeepers group and information collected from our members.
Majestic Moose
It was a hot and sunny August day (August 10th 2004 to be exact). At about 11:00 am, the boss called me up to the third floor window to see a spectacular site. For about 2 minutes, we watched a bull moose, in full velvet, swim across Lac des Roches. Since it was a Tuesday, there was little lake traffic to bother him.
He started out from the vicinity of McCarthy Road (we heard he was watched from there as well), glided through the water like a champion swimmer and hit the shore at a run on the south side of the lake, just east of the channel mouth. One of my most memorable wildlife sightings on the lake yet!
Submitted by S.W.
Wandering Wolves
On January 10th, 2005, about 7 am, I got an early wake-up call from the boss to see a rare sight out on the ice on Lac des Roches. A lone wolf, near Rock Island, was making its way down the ice. It would lie down on the ice for up to 5 minutes, then it would rise, walk 100 yards and lay down again. Its stop and start pattern continued for about 30 minutes. This peculiar activities was soon explained when a second wolf ran out from the shore, toward the center of the lake, apparently being pushed away from the shore by a very large and irate group of crows. These two wolves were obviously hunting as a team along the north shore of the lake, below Boultbee Road. Once pushed offshore by the crows, we watched them run across the ice to the south shore, where we watched them take up the same hunting technique, in peace.
Submitted by S.W.
A lynx ... I think
Now that the snow and ice are gone, my little dog Cali and I have begun hiking along the cattle and game trails on the crown land above Highway 24. On April 10, just west of the Wavey Lake forestry road, we came into a grassy field just in time to see a large cat lope into the trees along the edge. As a child, I would have told my family I saw a "snitter". My more technical interpretation - for an adult audience - is that it was likely a lynx. I have previously seen a cougar and a bobcat in the wild, so I am pretty certain it was a lynx. It was slightly bigger than Cali in length and girth (Cali is currently 73 pounds - but working on her diet like her "mom") and its colour was greyish brown.
Submitted by S.W.