Cameras capture B.C. sea wolf raiding crab traps in first possible ‘tool use’

'Our crews came in and said that, you know, something had been pulling our crab traps and taking the bait,' William Housty told Global News.

B.C.’s Heiltsuk First Nation could not figure out how the traps they had set near Bella Bella to catch the invasive green crabs were being damaged.

So they decided to set up cameras in 2024 to try and solve the mystery.

“Our crews came in and said that, you know, something had been pulling our crab traps and taking the bait,” William Housty, director of the  Heiltsuk Integrated Resource Management Department in Bella Bella told Global News.

“You normally picture a human being with two hands pulling a crab trap, but we couldn’t figure out exactly what had the ability to be able to do that until we put a camera up and saw, well, there’s other intelligent beings out there that are able to do this, which is very remarkable.”

The cameras captured a sea wolf emerging from the water with a buoy hanging from its mouth.

The wolf then picked up a line attached to the buoy, pulled a crab trap out of the water and ate the bait inside.

“Our crew have gone through hundreds of bait traps, you know, trying to catch these green crabs and getting intercepted by this pack of wolves, so it’s quite remarkable that they’ve been able to pick up on and be able to do it,” Housty said.

Kyle Artelle, assistant professor in the Department of Environmental Biology at the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry in New York, said they first noticed the crab traps in deep water were also being targeted.