If, as they say, a picture is worth 1,000 words, check out our front page.
Little more needs to be said about senseless tourists (we’ll assume they are; we’d hate to think locals would act in such a manner), but this space demands words, so we’ll continue …
Now, we realize not everybody lives with wildlife as we do here in the beautiful Bow Valley and thus are up to speed on wildlife issues, but we believe tourists should take it upon themselves to at least learn something of the culture, trends or traditions of a place being visited.
And in our valley, culture, trends and tradition suggests nobody approaches wildlife as closely as those in our front page photo have.
In fact, short of trying to feed the bull elk a handful of Bow River-side dandelions or other greenery, the group in the photo did everything wrong that they could do wrong.
Clearly, the female having her photo taken with the elk behind her is having the time of her life – but – how memorable would her Banff visit have been had that bull decided she was between him and his best exit from the situation?
A fuzzy antler to the ribcage certainly would have left a lasting impression, as would cloven-hoofed footprints on her backside. Picking gravel out of your face while bemoaning marks left by a several hundred pound animal, post-trampling, would certainly have allowed for a holiday story to be passed on over the years.
You might think we’re being overly harsh here, but this exact situation was undoubtedly going to happen this tourist season. If, as many are predicting, this summer is crazy (crazier than usual) busy, at some point, someone would risk injury, possibly death, in approaching wildlife too closely.
While being trampled by an elk would likely not result in a fatality, the situation could be drastically different if it came to attempting to feed a bear, say, or attracting one to a campsite that was not sufficiently bearproofed by having food/garbage removed.
We know, we absolutely do realize, what a thrill it is to see our wildlife up close and personal, but not only is there a risk for people trying to get close, having our wildlife get used to having humans in close proximity is bad. Wildlife becoming habituated to our presence often means their destruction when things go awry.
And, being that bears in particular are not as plentiful on the ground as they should be, we’d prefer they stayed wild and wary.
Please, visitors, get your photos and be thrilled by the presence of our wildlife – but do it from a distance which is safe for both yourself and our animals.
Further, please have a look at the information available in regard to living with wildlife. Common sense helps, but so does being equipped with bear spray and paying attention to the “rules of the road” as it were, where our wildlife is concerned.
Remember, your visit will likely be a short one – but should you damage our wildlife with irresponsible actions you could leave a lasting legacy of destruction.
