And to think that just last week, in this very space, we stated it shouldn’t be too difficult to start 2014 off on a firmer, more positive footing after a rash of human/wildlife conflicts at the end of the year.
Well, a short week later, that notion has gone by the wayside – make that the roadside.
Just five days into 2014, we’ve already got a situation where someone found a new use for their holiday leftovers … chuck ‘em on the road to attract wolves for photo opportunities (page 11).
Yes, on Jan. 5 Parks Canada wardens found themselves investigating an incident where turkey meat was left in a ditch on Bow Valley Parkway and (coincidentally?) photographers were on hand to take photos of wolves that showed up to eat.
Yikes.
Worse yet, according to wardens, two of those photographers are Bow Valley residents who should certainly know better. At this point, no names have been released, no charges laid, and no clear indication of whether the photographers in question were professionals, overly keen amateurs, or just people with cameras who have no clue of the damage that can be done by habituating wolves to associate food with vehicles and people stopping on the roadside.
Here at RMO we’re not so vain as to think every single individual in the Bow Valley reads this newspaper and therefore is aware of the public backlash these incidents cause, or read, via these pages, expert testimony by wildlife managers as to how habituation so often leads to dead wildlife.
But do they exist in social circles where nobody is aware that feeding wildlife is an issue? That nobody they talk to has stated opposition, or advised against, feeding wildlife?
Or, when it comes to capturing possibly the wildlife photo of a lifetime, or possibly making a living from said photos, they just can’t help themselves? Is it a case of feed the animals, get the photo, and the wildlife’s future be damned?
It does make you wonder.
We have to agree with human/wildlife conflict specialist Steve Michel, who stated, “I would think in the year 2014 in a national park environment that most people would be aware that this is completely unacceptable behaviour.”
As it stands, the Bow Valley wolfpack is believed to be as tiny as seven animals, a breeding pair and offspring of various ages.
Should even one or two of these wolves be killed on the Parkway because they’ve been conditioned to expect food along it, it would be a massive blow to the population. A blow the pack might not recover from.
These aren’t “problem wolves” that are killing livestock, say, as occurs in some areas. These are wolves that we must share the valley with and it’s incumbent on all of us to not make living here for them any more dangerous than it already is due to highways and railways.
Still in keeping with negative human/wildlife interactions, last week in Banff an off-leash dog chased a deer into a roadway where it was struck and killed by a vehicle near the hospital.
Also last week in Canmore, bylaw services ticketed a person whose off-leash dog had been chasing elk in the Three Sisters Drive area.
So we left 2013 with off-leash dogs being a problem and have entered 2014 in the same situation.
Being that people can’t seem to police themselves when it comes to off-leash dogs, or feeding wildlife, it would seem there’s little alternative but for wildlife managers and bylaw officers to dedicate time and resources in pursuing those responsible for these types of infractions to the fullest extent possible to send a message.
