From canine commuters to a 'brown blob': Meet the North's animal newsmakers of 2023

Every year, many of the North's biggest newsmakers are also some of its most elusive characters. They don't give interviews, hold news conferences, issue statements, or arrange photo-ops. And they definitely don't read their own press.

Sometimes they're in the news for doing extraordinary things, or turning up in unusual places. Often, though, they're just doing their thing — being animals — and it's the reactions they inspire in us humans that make news.   

Here are some of the North's top animal stories of 2023.

It's not unusual to spot wildlife while driving on the North's lonely highways, but Morgan Watsyk's encounter last January was rare indeed.

The Fort Simpson, N.W.T., man was driving toward Wrigley when he spotted what he first thought were some mountain goats on the road ahead. When he pulled out his camera and zoomed in, he realized what he was actually seeing was a pack of 11 wolves. 

Watsyk's video captures his amazed reaction.

"Oh wow, that is super cool!"

One of CBC North's most-read stories of 2023 came from over the border, in Skagway, Alaska, and also involved a video of a group of canines. This pack is hardly wild, though — in fact, they couldn't be more tame, riding a bus like a bunch of average jobbers. 

The dogs became online sensations when Mo Thompson and her partner Lee began posting videos showing them driving their specialized bus around town, picking up animals signed up for their dog-walking and pet-training business.

The funny and adorable videos began racking up millions of views.

It's "really captured the hearts of a lot of people," said Thompson.

You can fit plenty of dogs on a bus, but how many baby emus can you get into a Honda Fit? At least five, it turns out.

Hilary Obermair found that out after her flock of five birds escaped from their pen on Annie Lake Road near Whitehorse in October. Her partner managed to round them up again, some distance away, and somehow wrestled the lanky young birds into the back of his car.

A video shows the birds arriving back home, where they "waterfalled" out of the small car.