Canadian Armed Forces reservists were behind a fake letter warning residents of a Nova Scotia county that a pack of grey wolves had been released in the area.
The letter, which looked like an official note from the province’s Department of Lands and Forestry, wound up in a number of mailboxes of residents in Kings County.
It purported to notify residents that a pack of eight grey wolves had been reintroduced to the area in August.
It prompted so much concern that the department was forced to publicly state the letter was fake in a tweet last week.
“It’s fake. We do not know who circulated it or why,” read the tweet from the official Department of Lands and Forestry Twitter account.
“There have been no Gray wolves released anywhere in Nova Scotia by any government agencies.”
The culprits behind the fake letter have now been identified as an army reservist unit operating out of Camp Aldershot in Kentville, N.S.
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Lt. Lance Wade, a public affairs officer for the 36 Canadian Brigade Group, a reserve group in Halifax, confirmed that a reserve unit was behind the letter — a fact first reported by CBC Nova Scotia.
“It was not meant for public consumption,” said Wade in a phone call on Monday.
Wade said that they’ve launched an internal investigation to determine why the letter was created and to get to the bottom of how it was distributed.
He wasn’t sure how or why wolves were chosen as the topic.
Wade said the army regrets any worry it caused Nova Scotians or inconvenience caused to Nova Scotia’s Lands and Forestry unit.
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