Wildlife photographers are believed responsible for baiting wolves along Bow Valley Parkway - with turkey meat. Banff National Park wardens are investigating a Jan.
Wildlife photographers are believed responsible for baiting wolves along Bow Valley Parkway - with turkey meat.
Banff National Park wardens are investigating a Jan. 5 incident in which a wolf was seen feeding on human food in the ditch along the parkway in an area where there were three photographers - two from the Bow Valley and one from out of the area.
No charges had been laid at the time the Outlook went to press.
Steve Michel, a human-wildlife conflict specialist with Banff National Park, said there was a "fairly substantial amount of food," but Parks Canada has no way of knowing for how long the wolf was feeding on the turkey meat.
"It doesn't appear to have been accidentally discarded or littered. It appears to have been intentionally placed for that purpose, for baiting wildlife. The only people that were in the area were several photographers," he said.
"I would think in the year 2014 in a national park environment that most people would be aware that this is completely unacceptable behaviour."
Wolves can become conditioned to human food and then act boldly and aggressively towards people. The only time Parks Canada has had to destroy wolves in Banff National Park was well over a decade ago when the animals got a taste for human food.
"We certainly don't want to see that happening again," said Michel.
There are believed to be seven wolves in the Bow Valley pack, including the breeding pair, three yearlings and two pups.
A single wolf was seen feeding on the turkey, but other members of the pack were in the area.
Michel said it is disappointing photographers in the area claimed ignorance as to who had put the food on the side of the road.
"They were all aware it was there and they were all photographing the wolf and nobody reported this information to Parks Canada. That is the part that is extremely disappointing," he said.
"For photographers who feel they are ethical and not engaging in this unethical practice, we would certainly expect them to immediately report it so we could investigate and intervene."
Kevin Van Tighem, author of The Homeward Wolf, a book that drew attention to unethical practices of some wildlife photographers, says those responsible should be charged.
"Absolutely. There's an awful lot of people who invest a lot of time and effort into making it possible for animals to connect with people in this complicated piece of landscape. This is a slap in the face and it's absolutely irresponsible and there's got to be consequences," he said.
"This is an example of profoundly unethical and irresponsible behaviour, of basically using bait to improve chances to see a profit from photos of animals, in spite of the fact it's putting those animals at risk and potentially putting other people at risk."
In his new book, Van Tighem talks about some notorious local photographers virtually camping on top of the wolf pack, shadowing them through the valley and building illegal blinds close to the den sites, a practice that wolf researchers had previously abandoned as unethical.
He said trusting wolves are a treasure for commercial photographers and provide hours of richly rewarding wildlife viewing to national park visitors. The problem, however, is that their trusting natures can get those wolves shot when they wander outside park boundaries.
Van Tighem told the Outlook feeding wildlife takes this to an entirely new level.
"Those animals are being exposed to an awful lot of human presence… food habituation ramps it up to a different category of risk. Wolves won't be just comfortable on the road, just hanging around looking for food, not just ignoring people, but approaching people," he said.
"Once a carnivore associates people with food, that safe relationship between the two species is out the door because of irresponsible, unethical and fundamentally selfish behaviour by people."
In other wildlife news, a deer is dead after an off-leash dog chased it onto the road into the path of oncoming traffic.
Parks Canada received a report Dec. 31 of a deer lying on the road on Lynx Street in the vicinity of Mineral Springs Hospital. An RCMP officer on the scene was told by a witness the deer was chased by an off-leash border collie.
"Park law enforcement staff are continuing to investigate, but we don't have much to go on," said Michel.
By law, dogs in Banff National Park must be kept on a leash at all times. The only place dogs are allowed to run freely is at the off-leash dog park.
"Not only is against the law, but it's totally unacceptable and it appears it is more of a problem with local residents who become complacent than it is with visitors," said Michel.
