When Atheana Picha laid eyes on the century-old pelt of a woolly dog, she says she swelled with pride for her Coast Salish heritage.
For thousands of years, woolly dogs played an integral role in the lives of Salish and Makah peoples, who bred them and used their silky fur for weaving. But the beloved animals were driven to extinction under colonialism in the late 1800s.
The only known woolly dog pelt has been in storage in a U.S. museum for 160 years. But now, it’s back in Coast Salish territory, on loan at the University of British Columbia’s Museum of Anthropology (MOA) in Vancouver.
Picha, a Coast Salish weaver, was among a handful of people who got to see it last Friday at a private event for members of Indigenous communities.
“It was a really powerful moment for me,” she told As It Happens host Nil Köksal. “I just remember the, like, pride I had. I was like, yes, I’m so proud to be Salish right now.”
Only known woolly dog pelt returns to B.C. after being in U.S. museum for 160 years
The pelt belonged to a woolly dog named Mutton, who came from what is now known as Chilliwack, B.C., on the traditional territory of the Stó:lō Coast Salish peoples.
Mutton was a companion to the U.S. naturalist George Gibbs, who participated in surveys establishing the colonial Canada-U.S. border in the mid-19th century.
It’s not clear how Gibbs acquired Mutton. But when he died, Gibbs sent his pelt to the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, D.C.
Jordan Wilson, the curator of Pacific Northwest and Contemporary Indigenous Art at MOA, says this is the first time it’s been on display in Canada.
“To see its little paws and to see its little nose and to think that this was a living creature 160 years ago and it was part of the lives of our Coast Salish ancestors in the region — yeah, it’s intense,” Wilson told CBC Vancouver.
Wilson, a member of the Musqueam nation, says it brings up complex feelings.
“On one hand, it is a joyful thing to have it here and to have to be accessible and to see the response that is generated,” he said.
“There’s also, you know, a sadness, I suppose, because it is a tradition that was essentially eliminated by settler colonialism in the region.”
The breed’s decline is linked to colonialism, though there’s no single factor that drove it to extinction.
According to a 2023 study in the journal Science, disease, social upheaval and forced displacement made it difficult for Coast Salish and Makah peoples to maintain their centuries-long practice of isolating, breeding and caring for the dogs.
Wilson says the criminalization of Indigenous culture through the federal Potlatch ban was also a factor.
“Our social life and our ceremonial life, that was all made illegal, and so the weaving of robes was very much part of that,” he said.
Weaving, says Picha, is a cornerstone of Coast Salish cultures.
“Any law done in Coast Salish country, any legal thing that happens, includes weaving in some capacity. And the weavings come from the fibres from this land — from the animal fibres, plant fibres, the dyes, everything from this territory,” she said.
And traditionally, she says, it has been women’s work.
“My understanding from my elders is that dogs were owned by women, looked after by women and utilized by women,” she said.
“Not to get weird about it, but what I love about the woolly dog is its validation of oral history, its validation of, like, women’s strength.”
The pelt is on loan at MOA until August 2027, thanks in large part thanks to the efforts of the Stó:lō House of Respect Caretaking Committee, a group of elders, knowledge keepers and community members whose mission is to preserve Stó:lō heritage.
David Schaepe, the director of Stó:lō Research and Resource Management Centre, says the pelt’s return is part of a cultural shift that is seeing anthropologists and museums working in collaboration with Indigenous communities, instead of looting their belongings and remains.
“To be part of changing that landscape of relationships, and growing out of these new types of partnerships that are supportive and work to do things in a good way, is a very important thing to me,” he said.
Currently, Schaepe says, the pelt is on loan at UBC’s Museum of Anthropology until August 2027, and there have been no discussions of repatriating it permanently.
But Picha says Mutton’s remains should remain in his homeland.
“I know that there is a lot of beautiful places where he could be looked after and shared, and the story about how he came here could be shared,” she said.
“People could connect with that and learn about why this dog is significant to this place, why it’s significant to makers and creators, why it is significant to dog lovers in general, but also why it is significant to the Coast Salish way of being.”
