Refuge Pageau founder, 'wolf whisperer' Michel Pageau dead at 75

Abitibi-Tmiscamingue is grieving the death of "wolfwhisperer"Michel Pageau, the founder of Refuge Pageau, a sanctuarywhich looks after wild animals in need of rehabilitation.

He died at 75of a pulmonary embolism.

Pageauspenthis lifetime helping and caring for animals. His workstarted getting media attention in 1974 in Clricy, a small town about 600 kilometres northwest of Montreal, wherehe and his wife adopted a young beaver.

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The story was picked up by the Abitibi-Tmiscamingue publication Le Trotteur du Maquignon. Itseditor, Laurier Larouche, said after meeting Pageau, "this fellow, when you meet him once, you know him forever."

From those beginnings, Pageautook innumerous animals and eventually opened his animal sanctuary, Refuge Pageau,in the Abitibi-Tmiscamingue regionin 1986.

The refuge, which celebrated its 30th anniversary in August, now welcomes thousands of visitors yearly and tends to about 150 wild animals before releasing them backinto the wild.

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Since its founding, the refuge increasingly became a tourist attraction in the region.

Randa Napky, the director general of the local tourism commission, said that Pageau strongly represented the image of the area and Quebec at an international level.

"He was also known in France, among the world's francophones and in Europe," Napky said.

Pageau's health had been declining for several years prior to his death and the animal sanctuary has been increasingly led by his daughter Nathalie and his son-in-law Flix Offroy.

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