TOFINO, B.C. -- Watch for wolves? Are they kidding?

Around this busy summer tourist destination, where packs of rental RVs roam like hungry predators searching for empty campsites?

No kidding.

Signs posted at the beach access trail at Wickaninnish Interpretive
Centre in Pacific Rim National Park Reserve warn of wolves and bears.

Tofino has become an internationally known destination because of what's next door: Canada's Pacific Rim National Park Reserve. The word "reserve" is tacked on because Canada is still negotiating treaties for the land with the local Nuu-chah-nulth nation, which alone tells you that this corner of the continent is a little different, a little less "settled." The Long Beach segment of the park, between Tofino and Ucluelet, has 10 miles of sandy beach, about the largest stretch on Vancouver Island. Besides hosting more surfers per square mile than you'll find in most of the rest of Canada, the park is home to wolves, bear and cougars.

Surfers are the most visible form of, uh, wild life on Wickaninnish Beach.

As we approached the park's Wickaninnish Interpretive Centre, temporary signs warned of wolves and bears in the area. Bears, we weren't surprised. But wolves?

"Sure they aren't coyotes?" I asked a ranger.

Yes, she said. There's a subspecies of wolf native to Vancouver Island, and some have been seen recently at nearby Florencia Bay.

"The first report came when a visitor had his dog off leash, and two wolves cornered the dog, but it got away. Then one of our volunteers saw two wolves taking apart a bear cub there."

"Taking apart." Oof.

She handed me a brochure, which explained that the local wolves look a lot like German shepherd dogs, but with longer legs, narrower chests, larger feet, and with a reddish, tawny coat.

Our kayak guide, Andy Murray, told us wolves are common also to Meares Island, where we took a hike. In mud from recent rains, he spotted tracks that were "definitely canine." "Either somone has brought a dog over here, or a wolf has been by," he said.

Local wolves are unusual in that they swim a lot more than most wolves, he said, and they eat salmon. Unlike bears, wolves feed on salmon at night, so they aren't photographed in the act. Wolves typically eat the heads off the fish, while bears eat the body. "So if you see salmon without their heads, it means wolves," Murray said.

And keep your dog leashed.