Editor:
Having fun in the outdoors and having respect for our wild neighbours are two completely different things.
One hears that some people feel that they have the God-given right to have fun in our outdoors at all costs: running dogs off-leash, habituating predators to easy-to-catch meals, mountain biking on and off designated trails, plugged in with high volume noise makers in our ears without bear bells attached to our bikes, walking, running-skiing-snow shoeing in and outside wildlife corridors and closed areas, thereby putting wildlife in winter under severe stress while depleting their meager energy reserves, close-up photographing or filming wolves attracted to human food, thereby habituating them to the presence of humans and not being bothered about the fact that they are being human food conditioned (instead of picking up the attractants and leaving the area), the list goes on and on…
One wonders whether or not we, as a majority of Bow Valley residents, are really such “environmentally-conscious, veggie-eating, latte-drinking folks?” We do not really need to learn highly technical terms-like “ecological integrity,” but at the same time, we seem to have severe shortcomings when it comes to understanding the simple but deep concept of having respect for our wild neighbours.
Gian-Duri Giger,
Canmore
