A new wildlife education group is dedicating itself to increasing public awareness in Cochrane, and the name says it all: Wildlife Coexistence Cochrane (WCC).
Hendrik Bosch, an avid participant in the talks sponsored by the Cochrane Ecological Action Committee (CEAC) has been a proponent of the idea, and, the help of such like-minded people as Nick de Ruyter and Tim Gietz of CEAC, the new group has become a reality.
De Ruyter is an educational expert from Canmore’s Biosphere Institute of the Bow Valley.
“I was a bit frustrated seeing that we had quite a lot of human wildlife conflicts in town, and there's always issues where people let their dogs off leash and then they chase after water birds and kill them.” Bosch said.
He said often, residents were frustrated because the provincial Fish and Wildlife department have the responsibility to deal with conflict issues, but that often doesn’t work out to everyone’s satisfaction.
“Fish and Wildlife is overworked and often doesn't know where to begin to deal with it. And I just thought, you know, we could have some more information and then education because our town is growing like crazy. We have hundreds and hundreds of new people moving here,” Bosch said.
WCC is kicking off its introduction to residents of Cochrane with a soft launch at this weekend’s Farmers Market, and they will have a booth alongside the Birds of Prey Foundation’s exhibit at The Station during Discovery Days festivities on the Labour Day weekend.
Tim Gietz of CEAC said it was an idea whose time had come.
“Cochrane has had its fair share of wildlife sightings throughout the summer, from deer to cougars to bears, to moose and now raccoons. Although most are harmless, some can pose a serious threat to both people and wildlife, resulting in injury and property damage. In fact, as described in local media, at least two recent interactions have not gone well for wildlife,” Gietz said.
The death of waterfowl at Mitford pond in the fall of 2023 is a recent example. "Buddy the Goose" a popular fixture of the area fell prey to an animal attack. Whether it was by a dog, fox or coyote is unknown. Then earlier this spring a hooded Merganser fell victim to a discarded fishing line and hook.
It is with this background that the Cochrane Environmental Action Committee (CEAC) has decided to create an outreach program called Wildlife Coexistence– Cochrane. This new initiative is intent on raising public awareness and knowledge through education to teach audiences about local wildlife, what is known about them, and how everyone can use that information to safely and effectively coexist with wildlife so as to avoid potential conflicts in town.
“Dogs in the park are required to be leashed but residents of the area say they are often set free,” he said.
“In response to the ever increasing wildlife encounters and interactions throughout Cochrane it is obvious that there is a strong need to equip residents with the knowledge and awareness to handle these situations.”
“Some people have certainly learned to live without conflict alongside wildlife but there are still people in our community who feel their actions do not have any consequences and that they do not need to follow the rules. This includes things like walking their pets off-leash, leaving birdseed and other attractants out year round, or encroaching on wildlife,” he said.
The Wildlife Coexistence program is being funded by CEAC. Funds will be used for display materials that will be used as tools to engage residents at venues such as the Farmers’ Market, various local festivals, and possibly at ad hoc set-ups in some parks. The materials will include a banner as well as assorted animal tracks, pelts, and parts. In addition, a wealth of reference material such as brochures, factsheets, and information cards is available from the Bow Valley WildSmart program and will be accessed and used by Wildlife Coexistence– Cochrane.
More outreach will be done on social media posts to highlight some seasonal wildlife conflicts and how to avoid or reduce them (coyotes breeding – keep dog on leash, fawn season – give them space, etc.) again in coordination with messaging with the Town.
Wildlife Coexistence Cochrane’s first “boots on the ground” event will be working with the Town of Cochrane on the fruit tree roundup, and there are more things planned.
For more information on the fruit tree roundup visit Cochrane.ca/TreeFruitRoundUp or contact [email protected].
