Anybody with even the most minute interest in the preservation of wildlife, particularly in our region, needs to be aware of the razor thin line the Bow Valley wolfpack is loping along on.
In recent weeks, wolves in Banff National Park have been approaching people at what wildlife managers are calling “dangerously close range.”
We hope those same managers are correct in their assessment that the wolves are trying to draw people away from denning areas.
We also hope that residents and visitors alike, including, or perhaps particularly, photographers that have been known to encroach on the wolves’ space, heed area closures designed to allow the wolves to den and raise pups in peace.
A good news story of a wolf pack growing incrementally in the national park with the addition of some pups this spring could quickly turn to a disastrous story of wolves that become too habituated to humans being destroyed in the interest of public safety.
Quite possibly the only thing stopping the good news story from going bad is humans unwilling to leave the wild canines in peace.
While seeing a wolf up close and personal might be considered the experience of a lifetime for many wildlife enthusiasts, continuing close calls in respect to them approaching humans will likely only have one disastrous result – their destruction.
Feeding wolves, or encroaching on their space while habituating them to human presence, could result in a situation similar to ‘a fed bear is a dead bear.’
As it is, these wolves are already quite comfortable hunting (ie. recently killing an elk on an overpass in view of Trans-Canada travellers) and living near the Banff townsite.
Residents and visitors alike must take it upon themselves to not feed the wolves, or leave food where they can access it, as well give them their due space to ensure they remain wild and wary of humans.
Environmental reporting changes
This week, the Alberta government is taking environmental monitoring and reporting into its own hands; which is about time.
For years under Progressive Conservative governments, the semi-independent Alberta Environmental Monitoring, Evaluation and Reporting Agency (AEMERA) was responsible for investigating heavy industry miscues.
But when a supposed independent third party like AEMERA reported to an environmental minister, there was clearly little being done at arm’s length.
Hence, Environment Minister Shannon Phillips’ move to disband AEMERA (coincidentally on the heels of another TransCanada Pipeline leak in North Dakota?) and incorporated monitoring powers into her department.
Being that, also for years, reports had leaked out that toxic chemicals and other crud was leaching out of the oilsands region and into water supplies in northern Alberta, without any real steps being taken to curb the problem, it’s no wonder changes have been made.
Better still, Phillips said money no longer going to top level executives will be used to hire scientists to properly monitor the monitoring.
Rather than downloading by the provincial government onto municipalities, which has been a theme in the past, it’s refreshing to see the government taking responsibility for our clean air and water.
