For further information visit www.cpaws-ov.org/AlgonquinWolves.htm
News Release
Tuesday 6 November, 2001.
Environmentalists Applaud Wolf Protection Around Algonquin Park
Toronto & Ottawa – “This is a good day for wolves, and a good day for
parks,” declares Jean Langlois of the Canadian Parks and Wilderness
Society (CPAWS). CPAWS applauds the announcement of a new wolf
protection zone outside the boundaries of Algonquin Park. The
protection measures, announced today by Ontario Natural Resources
Minister John Snobelen, will result in a thirty months moratorium on
all wolf hunting and trapping in 39 townships around the Park.
Full protection around Algonquin Park should result in a viable core
population for this wolf species” says Chris Henschel of CPAWS’s
Wildlands League chapter. Henschel was a member of the
multi-stakeholder group advising the Minister on how to conserve the
wolf. “We commend the Minister in going beyond the Algonquin Wolf
Advisory Group’s recommendations, and hope that this 30 months hunting
and trapping ban stays in place in perpetuity.”
The Eastern wolf, which ranges through central Ontario and southern
Quebec, was recently added to Canada’s Species at Risk List as a
species of special concern. Even in Algonquin Park, the largest
protected habitat for the species, a population decline was detected.
The population was found to be at risk because so many wolves are
killed outside park boundaries.
“We can’t expect ecosystems and wildlife to squeeze neatly into the
arbitrary park boundaries we draw on maps” Langlois says, noting that
buffer zones between parks and exploited areas, such as the one
announced today, better reflect modern conservation science. This is
the first buffer zone around an Ontario park designed to protect
carnivores.
The Wildlands League and Ottawa Valley chapters of CPAWS have been
advocating a wolf conservation buffer zone around Algonquin Park since
1996.
Concern about the park wolf population began when research by Dr. John
and Mary Theberge of the University of Waterloo first detected the
high incidence of wolves from the park dying outside the park
boundary.
Thousands of citizens also expressed their concern. The Minister’s
office has received over 19,000 letters, postcards, and petition
signatures, calling for increased protection for wolves outside the
park.
Group howl in Ottawa Wednesday, November 7th There will be an
opportunity for local media to get the first hand reaction from local
activists who have been involved in this campaign for several years.
Renowned wolf biologists John and Mary Theberge will lead a
celebratory howl. The event will start at 7 pm, Wednesday Nov 7th, at
the Bushtakah store, 230 Richmond Road near Kirkwood in Ottawa.