Readers choose late wolf pack leader as cover for Canadian Geographic

Readers of Canadian Geographic magazine have chosen as the cover subject for next month's wildlife issue, a photo of a famed, black wolf called Delinda, the late leader of the Banff pack . Online voters had a choice of three possible covers, two of which featured Delinda.

Delinda's death on the Trans-Canada Highway in September 2008 adds poignancy to the story; the editors of Canadian Geographic were unaware when the choice was made and they were told the story.

According to a story in Banff Crag & Canyon online, the wolf is well known to visitors and Bow Valleys residents since its image adorns one of Banff's hybrid buses. Canmore nature photographer John E. Marriott took the picture in January 2008 along the Canmore Parkway, one of many that he has taken of Delinda.

"Over the course of a couple years there — 2007, 2008 — I probably had 10 really good encounters with her," he said. "I didn't necessarily get photos every time, but 10 really good (encounters) — over a long period, or where she came really close, where I got to watch her across a river for a couple hours, that kind of thing . . . ."

Marriott was one of those called in to identify the body when she was killed. And said it's natural to feel that you build some form of a relationship with the animals you photograph.