Beat it, beaver: Grey wolf wins Canada's Greatest Animal contest

After a ferocious seven-week contest, the grey wolf has finally risen to the top to claim the crownof Canada's Greatest Animal.

There will be no official coronation, however, the designation is the culmination of a contest put on by the Calgary Zoo in honour of Canada's 150thbirthday.

• Wolf leads the pack in Calgary Zoo's Greatest Animal contest

More than 11,000 ballots were cast in the campaign, the zoo said in a release.

The grey wolffaced fierce competition, butultimatelyit beat out fellow Canadian animal icons like the grizzly bear, bison, whooping crane, Rocky Mountain goat, great grey owland, obviously, the beaver.

The wolf took 26 per cent of the ballots cast and beat out its buck-toothed rival by around 500 votes.

Species at risk

"Since we launched this campaign on March 23, another 11 species have been added to Canada's list of endangered species," said LindseyGalloway, senior director of the zoo, in a news release.

"What this says to usis that even though the fun campaign is over, our important conservation work is more crucial than ever."

According to the zoo,there are currently 532 species at risk under Canada's Species at Risk Act, 66 of those range in Alberta. Twelve of those species are only found in Alberta.

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