Arctic grey wolves featured on new postage stamps

Canada Post issued new stamps that feature four types of wolves found in Canada — one being the Arctic grey wolf.

The postal service unveiled the new series Thursday.

“Wolves contribute significantly to the health and biodiversity of the ecosystem,” a Canada Post news release says.

“The intelligent hunters are often associated with the North and remote Canadian landscapes, and they also figure prominently in many Indigenous cultures.”

India-born American Ejaz Khan took the photo of the Arctic grey wolf. He started out as a fashion photographer in New York but now concentrates on fine art wildlife photography, his website says.

The stamp issue includes domestic stamps, a souvenir sheet, four postage-paid postcards that can be sent worldwide, and an official first-day cover.

A first-day cover is a collectible envelope with a new stamp attached to it and cancelled with a special postmark from the day the stamp was released.

The cancellation postmark for the wolf stamps is from Whitney, Ont., which is next to Algonquin Provincial Park, home to most of the 1,000 eastern wolves that remain in the wild.

Along with the Arctic grey wolf, the new stamps feature the eastern wolf, photographed by Michael Runtz and Steve Dunsford; the grey wolf, photographed by John E. Marriott; and the coastal wolf, photographed by Michelle Valberg, who features photography from Nunavut on her website..

“Having spent so much of my career photographing across the Canadian Arctic, I feel a deep connection to the North, its wildlife, landscapes and people,” Valberg wrote in an email to Nunatsiaq News.

“To have my coastal wolf image from Vancouver Island featured on a Canada Post stamp is an extraordinary honour,” Valberg said. “I have always loved wolves for their quiet strength and wild spirits.”

Nunatsiaq News was not able to reach Khan for a comment about his photo of the Arctic grey wolf.