Some very sad news out of Banff today. But please don't jump to conclusions and come out swinging against Parks over this. This was a very, very difficult decision for them to have had to make and they would not have made this decision lightly. When an animal has become conditioned with respect to where it can obtain food it is incredibly hard to change that behaviour.
As soon as the pups began to become reinforced for that type of behaviour (getting food) pretty soon it would be an entire pack of wolves who would be posing this problem. We have got to be so careful about food/garbage storage and disposal as well as the less obvious passive feeding of wild animals like bird feeders and in some areas, not necessarily Banff or Canmore, but ornamental fruit trees like crap apple. These are all food sources for wild canids and can create animals who become reinforced for their behaviours of hanging out near people and populated areas by obtaining food. Hopefully there remaining pack members will be able to bring up these pups in a wild, healthy way that leaves them unconditioned as the Alpha female had become, but she will definitely be a substantial loss to the pack, which operates like a close knit family where every member is absolutely key to survival of the pack. Read more below.
http://calgaryherald.com/…/female-wolf-killed-in-banff-nati…
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/banff-wolf-pack-sighting-has-park-officials-urging-caution-1.3426842
As soon as the pups began to become reinforced for that type of behaviour (getting food) pretty soon it would be an entire pack of wolves who would be posing this problem. We have got to be so careful about food/garbage storage and disposal as well as the less obvious passive feeding of wild animals like bird feeders and in some areas, not necessarily Banff or Canmore, but ornamental fruit trees like crap apple. These are all food sources for wild canids and can create animals who become reinforced for their behaviours of hanging out near people and populated areas by obtaining food. Hopefully there remaining pack members will be able to bring up these pups in a wild, healthy way that leaves them unconditioned as the Alpha female had become, but she will definitely be a substantial loss to the pack, which operates like a close knit family where every member is absolutely key to survival of the pack. Read more below.
http://calgaryherald.com/…/female-wolf-killed-in-banff-nati…
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/banff-wolf-pack-sighting-has-park-officials-urging-caution-1.3426842
