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Hello, and welcome to My Space!I am here to talk about wildlife rehabilitation and conservation in my area of the world, which is Calgary, Alberta, Canada. It is my way of hoping to initate more awareness of this growing matter. I would like to bring up some local topics concerning this issue and address ways in which people can help support conservation and rehabilition efforts of both wildlife and the environment in which they live in, both locally and abroad.Calgary and it's nearby surrounding areas have many wildlife conservation organizations. Ducks Unlimited, The Inglewood Bird Sancutary, Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society, The Calgary Zoo, Discovery Wildlife Park, The Cochrane Wildlife Reserve, and The Calgary Wildlife Rehabilitation Society are a few of the main ones. In addition, there are many protected areas of land within and around the Calgary area that serve to safeguard wildlife and their natural habitat.
Such areas include, Fish Creek Provincial Park, Weaselhead Natural Environment Park, Bridlewood Creek (Calgary's first wetland community), Royal Oak Wetlands etc.I have always had a passion for nature, and wildlife ever since I was very young. I guess you could say that it started as a result of camping with my parents in the outdoors every spring and summer. I was always taught to preserve nature and respect all it has to offer. To this day, I strive to acheive this. Currently, I volunteer at the Calgary Wildlife Rehabilitation Society.BACKGROUND:CWRS has been in operation in Calgary since 1993. They are a non-profit charitable organization and were established as a result of the city's dire need for a long term recovery facility for injured and orphaned wildlife, as the Calgary Zoo was not equipped for the intake of the increasing number of animals in need. The organization strives to educate the public and raise awareness about wildlife via lectures, school presentations, etc, as well as treat injured and orphaned wildlife for return to their natural habitat. CWRS also conducts studies into the causes of wildlife injuries and the effectiveness of other wildlife rehablitation programs.The types of volunteering that I participate in include: animal care shifts, in which I have learned how to handle all sorts of wildlife in a safe matter for myself and for the animal. I have sanitized pens and enclosures, bottle fed and syringe fed animals, help examine injured animals and helped with physical rehabilitation of limbs, wings etc.
I have also volunteered as an emergency driver in which I respond to calls made by the public either about an injured or orphaned animal they have captured or that they see and cannot capture themselves. I then pick the animal up and bring it to the center for assessment.
Lastly, I have volunteered as a liason to bring public awareness to our cener through fundraising and community presentations.Every year CWRS gets busier and busier with a larger number of wildlife injury cases as well as an increase in the number of orphaned animals. Why?The city of Calgary is growing at a rapid pace. Almost 100 people a day move to the city. In response to this growth, the city itself expands in all areas. Residential areas are built or expanded, as well as new commercial and industrial areas, etc. This expansion has its impacts and effects on the environment and the nature around and within the city. The pressure to urbanize in order to support the growing population overides the environment and more than often, nature and wildlife suffer. As more houses are being built, wildlife struggle to find new places to live or adapt to living among humans in the city. This is why I believe we see a greater incidence of injured and orphaned animals in and around the city.A catalogue of some of the animals rescued and cared for at the Calgary Wildlife Rehabilitation Society where I volunteer.Here is a bald eagle being released back into the wild at another rehabilitation center:.. width="425" height="350" ......Twenty species of Alberta fish and wildlife are in serious risk of dying out in this province. Two species are already gone and only about 55% of the 535 species in Alberta are considered healthy. The Alberta Government provides good quality information about threatened and endangered species but it is simply not doing enough to protect them. Alberta Government is currently leading a fight against Federal Endangered Species Legislation and habitat protection. The United States has an Endangered Species Act which protects habitat for species that are endangered. Canada at present does not. The Canadian Federal Government has now tabled Endangered Species Legislation but it is being opposed by many provinces, including Alberta. Alberta is also resisting the ideas of setting aside portions of its six diverse natural regions as a means of protecting species dependent on each regions.The Alberta Government claims that it has successfully implemented the Special Places Program which ensures to protect wildlife. The network includes more than 500 sites and encompasses over 2 million hectares however it includes recreational areas and other "parks" in which humans are encouraged to use as well. How is this supposed to protect Alberta's endangered species? Furthermore, The alberta government is also proposing the Natural Heritage Act which many environmental experts suggest will remove protection from parks -- a step backwards.
The Proposed Canadian Endangered Species Act has also been rejected by Alberta and other provinces. Just as Alberta has steadfastly refused to protect habitat in the Special Places 2000 program, so is it trying to prevent the Federal government from taking a role.
It seems that wildlife and wildlife habitat (the main reason that threatens wildlife) are of lesser concern to government than other issues.
Why should wildlife be protected? Many reasons:
Conserving species is important for reasons too many to mention. Wildlife has ecological, economic, recreational, scientific, and educational values that are measurable as well as intrinsic, spiritual, cultural, historic, and aesthetic values that cannot be quantified. Species also make up the fabric of healthy ecosystems which include estuaries, prairie grasslands, and ancient forests on which we depend for food and clean air and water. The decline of species, such as beluga whales, black-footed ferrets, and spotted owls, etc shows that the health of the ecosystems as a whole is in trouble. Wildlife-related activities, such as bird-watching, photography, hunting, and fishing, account for more than $10 billion in economic activity in Canada each year. Other commercially harvested wildlife species contribute significantly to local economies.For example if we look at the issue of the Pacific salmon population we can clearly see the economic havoc that the loss or even decline of species can inflict...One of the most important ways to save ecosystems is to conserve biodiversity. Since ecosystems are intricate and interdependent, the loss of just one species or gene pool generally casuses the loss of other life-forms as well. Each species is dependent on another one for survival.The Environmental Defense Organization researched goverment roles in the protection of species in Canada. It graded federal, provincial and territorial governments on their efforts to protect species at risk as outlined in the National Accord for the Protection of Species at Risk. The Report Cord gives failing grades to four jurisdictions - British Columbia, Alberta, Northwest Territories and Yukon. None of these governments has stand-alone legislation to protect species at risk.
Some Highlights of the Report include the following:- Nova Scotia receives the top grade: a "B" largely because of the province's leadership on species recovery programs and its species at risk law, which includes a scientific listing process.
- On average, only 36 per cent of scientifically classified "at risk" species are legally listed for protection in Canadian provinces and territories.
- A number of species at risk, including grizzly bear, wood bison and some whale species, can still be legally hunted in some provinces and territories.
- The various levels of government cannot even agree on a common definition of "species"What are some other major threats to species in Alberta?- 80% of species are at risk due to habitat loss. Expanding human populations and the myriad of activities that accompany them causes this result.Not only does it cause complete loss of habitat but fragmentation of habitat as well. Isolated remnants of habitat are often too small and disjointed to support viable wildlife populations or result in interbreeding of the separated populations which can have severe genetic repercussions.
- Two very large activities that significantly contribute to habitat loss are agriculture and forestry.
Clearing forests and replacing natural vegetation with crops, draining wetlands, using chemical fertilizers, insecticides, and herbicides, plus the commercial farming of native and exotic non native game species, are examples of agricultural practices that harm wildlife. Old-growth and mixed-growth forests continue to lose ground to intensive logging, forest fires, and insect infestations which further habitat loss.- Other factors that have been found to contribute to species declines are habitat degradation through climatic changes, increasing levels of toxic chemicals and pollutants, introductions of non-native plants and animals, and direct exploitation through poaching, species collecting, and over harvesting.Recently, I had a chance to visit a wildlife park just outside of Innisfail Alberta called the Discovery Wildlife Park. On first thought, I assumed it would be another failed attempt at a home type constructed zoo posing to be active to help wild animals in need, like the controversial Guzoo is.
When I arrived, I found this park to be quite active in conservation efforts. They had animals both native to Alberta as well as wild exotic animals that had been rescued from circuses, or been smuggled into the country for private zoos, pets, etc. Most of their animals were raised from orphans and unable to rehabilitate back into the wild and so they have become educational tools in order to bring about awareness to the public about wildlife and how to protect animals and their habitat. They had many lectures and demonstrations as well as histories on each animal that was there.The main goal of this Park is to provide the public with an up close look at some of nature's most amazing and endangered animals, while educating through daily lectures and presentations. They believe that, in doing so, people retain much more of the message of conservation, preservation and safety.As a volunteer at CWRS, I was most inclined to learn about the circumstances of their wildlife orphan cases. I found out that since 1992, Discovery Wildlife Park had been taking in orphaned animals from Alberta Fish & Wildlife. They have bottle-fed, doctored and cared for numerous species, including bears, elk, moose, deer, beaver, badger, skunk, coyote, cougars and wolves. These animals have either remained at DWP or have been placed in other institutions that have been able to provide quality facilities for them.
In addition, Discovery Park began to analyze the details and histories of these orphaned animals to try and determine a cause of this constant occurance. They concluded that human activities were to blame and had impacted these animals lives in such a way that animals were often orphaned because mothers couldn't care for their young because of food scarcity, habitat scarcity or death. DWP also concluded that the general public was not aware of the direct implications that human interference had on wildlife and decided to take their facility one step further and provide educational sessions to change this.Some pictures from Discovery Park:As human population grows, and wildlife habitat decreases, human and wildlife interaction becomes inevitable. This can be seen in the Calgary area in many ways. One way is the coyote interacations that have been taking place. Dogs and cats have been attacked and eaten by coyotes that are living within the city. They have even been reported in many circumstances actually approching people and are a lot less timid that coyotes found in isolated wilderness.
Not only is this dangerous for humans, but it is dangerous to the animals as well. They are adapting to a city habitat and are being accustomed to people and are changing their food source.Coyote numbers in Calgary are highest in those communities along the river and large natural areas such as Edworthy Park, North and South Glenmore Park, Nose Hill, River Park and Fish Creek Park. Coyotes also frequent backyards, golf courses, school grounds and playgrounds.As long as coyotes can find food and shelter, they will adapt to various environments.
The coyote’s natural diet consists of rabbits, small rodents, fruits and berries. If the opportunity arises, coyotes will consider a dog or a cat as a source of food and they will become bolder toward humans if they are obtaining unnatural food sources from humans or being fed by people which often happens. A person feeding a coyote:A coyote eating dog food in someone's backyard:Coyotes should be hunting for natural food sources like rodents:So land has definately been competition for wildlife, like coyotes, in an increasingly urbanized society. It is humans that usually win this battle and the animals are either having to adapt or they decline in numbers if they cannot.The increasing number of highways and roads in Alberta also threatens wildlife and is also another reason for the increasing numbers of wildlife that need rehabilitation at CWRS. Often, birds are brought in that have been hit by vehicles on the highways and young animals are often orphaned because their parent has been killed on the highway. The highway to Banff National Park is a good example of this. The total number of collisions involving either wildlife or domestic animals rose 80 percent between 1992 and 2006 along the Highway to Banff.There are many reasons that wild animals frequent the roadside. Many animal species are attracted to and eat the roadside vegetation as well as the road salt. Other reasons include that they are looking for mates and roads and highways often cut through animal migration routes.Not only do animals and sometimes human die due to collisions but another issue arises from this. Often, if people see animals near the roadside, they will stop to photograph or even feed these wild animals. This can prove to be disastrous for both a human and the animal. People have often been attacked or charged at by these animals and have been injured or killed. In addition, animals become accustomed to human presence and can become more aggressive toward people and also dependant on them especially if they are being fed.....What is the government doing about this issue and how effective are these solutions: A few main strategies in detail include:- Changing driver behaviour, for example, speed limit reductions, warning signs, bigger and brighter animal crossing signs and public awareness campaigns.
- Changing wildlife behaviour, for example, wildlife patrols, better highway lighting, and vegetation control at the side of the highways.
- Physically separating animals from traffic, for example, right-of-way animal fencing and animal crossings, wildlife overpasses and underpasses. If erected and maintained properly, 2.4 m fencing can virtually eliminate collisions (97-99%) when both sides of the road are fenced. There are, however, strong biological and ecological factors that contraindicate fencing as a blanket solution for all problem areas. Fencing impacts normal animal travel patterns, fragments habitats, and separates herds. In addition to this, there is some evidence that predators use fences to increase their hunting success. The cost to fence both sides of a highway is between $40,000 and $80,000 per kilometre. Maintenance costs can also be significant. Overpasses and underpasses are about 60% effective in diverting wildlife from the road but they are extremely expensive to build and maintain.
- Traditional wildlife warning signs, although frequently used and inexpensive, tend to be ignored by drivers. Studies conducted by Swedish researchers show that 60% of drivers do not even notice traditional wildlife warning signs. Installing Intelligent warning systems has been implicated which detect the presence of approaching vehicles or animals, and send signals to activate sounds, lights or scents. They are often activated by infra red (heat sensing) cameras.
- Reflectors are prisms mounted on posts along the sides of the road. As vehicle head lights strike the reflectors, beams of light are reflected at 90 degree angles to the road. This reflected light catches the animal's eye and distracts the animal from crossing the road. Installations can cost $10,000 per kilometre.
- The careful application of road salt only when necessary can help to control the number of animals attracted to the road to lick the salt residue.
