Living in the Northwest Territories, Rhonda Miller is no stranger to spotting wildlife along the highway—but what she witnessed on her drive to work last Friday caught her by surprise.
While driving along Highway 3, which runs from south of the MacKenzie River to Yellowknife, Miller spotted a dark figure that she initially mistook for a person.
“I thought that was strange because you don’t normally see people walking on the road that far out,” she told CBC News.
As she approached the figure and began slowing down, she thought it might be a bear. After she quickly remembered that it was the wrong time of year to be seeing bears, she spotted another animal. That’s when she realized it was a pair of wolves running alongside her car.
“My body immediately became afraid,” said Miller, who was struck by how large the wolves’ heads were.
She pulled out her camera to record the pair running beside her, because she thought it was the only way anyone would believe her.
Although she’s not exactly sure how fast the wolves were running, she told reporters that they were going “flat out.” She guesses it was somewhere between 40 and 50 kilometres per hour, and she may not be far off—most gray wolves max out at around 60 kilometres per hour.
When she got to the high school she works at in Edzo, she shared her video with some of the teachers and students, who were just as amazed as she was.
“…I think just the power of them and the beauty of them, seeing them running like that, flat out, is pretty inspiring,” she said.
