BANFF – Wolves in the Bow Valley may have gotten a taste of human food earlier this summer, but wildlife experts say the pack seems to be behaving like wild wolves.
Blair Fyten, human-wildlife coexistence specialist for Banff National Park, said the wolves have kept out of sight for the most part, with the odd reports to the west of the Banff townsite and around the Lake Minnewanka Loop.
“They’ve been relatively good but they did enter Johnston Canyon Campground a couple of times, potentially getting some food rewards…food left unattended,” he said.
“That was earlier in the summer and since then we haven't had too many issues, although they were noted hanging around Sunshine Village a couple of weeks ago for a couple of days. They’ve since moved on.”
Park wardens will charge people who leave food unattended or leave messy campsites for wild animals to access.
On Sept. 11 a woman was fined $300 in the Alberta Court of Justice in Canmore for failing to maintain a proper campsite at Tunnel Mountain Village campground this June.
The court heard a “significant amount” of food and garbage was left outside while two women were away from the campsite.
“There was a bag of McDonald’s takeout and a half eaten burger beside a sign saying ‘no attractants for wildlife’,” said federal prosecutor Kenneth McDonald, who asked for the standard fine of $400.
The woman’s lawyer, Dali Holloway, said her client admitted to the facts and asked for a fine of $250, noting it was her client’s first offence and first time visiting a national park.
“She has shown remorse and learned from the incident,” Holloway said.
Justice Margaret Keelaghan issued a $300 fine, which is to be paid into an environmental damage fund.
“It seems pretty basic that people shouldn’t be leaving half eaten burgers out,” she said.
“It’s really dangerous. This is completely unacceptable.”
In 2016, a bold young female wolf from the Bow Valley pack was put down by wildlife officials after she kept returning for food at campgrounds at Two Jack Lake in Banff National Park.
Her mother, the then breeding female of the pack, was also killed that same year for getting into garbage and food at Tunnel Mountain Campground.
Meanwhile, Banff’s wildlife team is not 100 per cent sure of the makeup of the current wolf packs in the Bow Valley.
Fyten said two lactating female wolves were detected earlier this spring – a likely sign they had both had pups – with one of the females hanging out east of the Banff townsite and another one to the west.
He said one of the lactating wolves was 1701, the dominant breeding female of what is known as the Bow Valley wolf pack, and he suspects the other female is one of her offspring.
“It was pretty obvious in the spring that there was likely two distinct groups because we had two lactating females, but since then, we’ve only seen this one group,” Fyten said, adding the last count had six pups and between six and nine adult wolves.
“We haven’t picked up pictures of individuals to the east of us here for some time so they either headed north or they amalgamated with the Bow Valley group, especially if they were related.”
Monitoring shows the wolves are roaming far and wide from Banff to Lake Louise, north to Flints Park and dipping south of the townsite on occasion.
Fyten said there have been no reports of wolf pup mortalities on the roads or railway line this year
“Nothing, which has been good,” he said.