Rare tiger salamander spotted in Calgary backyard

Tiger salamanders are one of two types of salamanders found in Alberta, especially in the southern part of the province. While they are relatively common, they aren't often seen.

Henry Cairney is used to seeing wildlife in his northwest Calgary backyard. It’s so common he set up a wildlife camera to capture videos of the animals undeterred by his fence.

“We’ve two resident moose that come in regularly, just hop over the fence,” laughed Cairney. “Coyotes, bobcats, we’ve had all sorts of animals here.”

Despite the constant parade of wildlife, he was shocked when he took his dog out last week and saw a tiger salamander on his patio.

“We were absolutely stunned because we’ve never seen anything like it before,” said Cairney. “It had these stripes all over it, it looked very unusual.”

At first, he thought it was a lizard or a newt like the ones he would catch growing up in Scotland but says its slow pace made him think he might be wrong.

“Then I saw how slow it moved because lizards usually move a lot faster, I thought ‘That’s not a lizard’.”

Tiger salamanders are one of two types of salamanders found in Alberta, especially in the southern part of the province. While they are relatively common, they aren’t often seen. They are mole salamanders and spend most of their time burrowed underground, making a sighting like Cairney’s even more unique.

“There’s easy access through the fence at the back there (to a pond) so it obviously just comes in and out as it pleases,” said Cairney.