Group angry over dead wolf
Saturday, February 1, 2003
By MELISSA RIDGEN, CALGARY SUN
Conservationists are howling that another wolf has died in a legal trap just
outside of Banff National Park.
The Panther wolf pack, also known as the Cascade pack, dropped from eight
wolves to seven two weeks ago when a young adult female was trapped about 40 km
north of Banff.
Wolf researcher Gunther Bloch said each death is significant to the future of
the pack and he’s concerned about the dramatic drop in wolf numbers around
Banff in the past decade.
“Ten years ago there were 50 wolves — we now have 30 (in four or five packs).
I’m concerned — you have to be.
“A death doesn’t only affect the number of wolves, but their social structure
and how the pack functions.”
He and other conservationists want a 50-km buffer zone around National Parks
where wolves would be off-limits, and for the Alberta government to impose a
limit on the number of wolves that can be trapped from each pack.
“We’ve been going in circles with the government for 10 years and nothing has
changed. If this continues, it doesn’t look good for wolves in the long-term,”
Bloch said.
Three other wolves from the Banff area have been killed this winter prompting
the group HOWL (Help Our Wolves Live) to hold a public memorial and information
session in Calgary earlier this week, before the latest wolf death was known.
The Bow Valley pack has been hardest hit losing Storm, its Alpha male, and his
son Yukon.
Those deaths reduced the Bow Valley pack to just two wolves — Hope, the Alpha
female, and her pup Nanuk.