kaien island wolves

By Leanne Ritchie , The Daily News
Published: Wednesday, February 27, 2008A group of bow hunters is proposing to reduce the population of deer and wolves on Kaien Island.

But Prince Rupert city council has not yet taken the bait.

Jeff Beckwith and Colin Bennett spoke to Prince Rupert city council Monday night, suggesting that a bow hunt in the non-residential and recreational areas of Kaien Island would be the best and safest way to reduce the attractants that are bringing wolves into town.

“The intention of a bow hunting season on Kaien Island is not to eliminate either species, but to provide a buffer zone between residential areas of the city and the wildland and re-establish the lost sense of security for our citizens,” said Beckwith.

Beckwith came with the support of both local archery organizations – The Eagle Eye Archers and Rainbow Archers – as well as the British Columbia Archery Association and United Bow Hunters of British Columbia.

There have been a number of wolf attacks on pets in Prince Rupert in recent years and a pack has established its territory around Kaien Island.

The result has been that some neighborhoods have lost a sense of safety and a number of pets have been injured or killed, Beckwith said.

During a presentation by the B.C. Conservation Officers service earlier this year, a number of options were presented to the city to deal with the problem of increasingly bold wolves.

These included a number of options specifically aimed at reducing the number of attractants that bring the wolves to town.

“The Ministry of Environment has reassured us that ‘there are no conservation concerns for the deer and archery is a well used tool to provide a safe hunting opportunity’ on Kaien Island,” said Beckwith.

In fact, the Gulf Islands have been allowing bow hunting to curb the deer population around human settlements for a number of years, he said.

In order to allow bow hunting, the city would have to remove its bylaw that restricts the discharge of bows within the municipal boundaries.

However, any hunt would still have to take place under provincial trapping regulations that state any bow hunting cannot take place with 100 metres of any dwelling or recreational area such as a trail.

It’s a win-win situation as the hunt would curb the deer population, send a message to the wolf packs that encounters with people are not in their best interest, give local sportsmen the opportunity to practice their craft and cost the city nothing, Beckwith said.

However Coun. Sheila Gordon-Payne said she would like to look at all the options before deciding on any hunting opportunities.

“We have had a number of letters since the Ministry of Environment’s presentation,” she said. “For me personally, my number one priority is dealing with the people-based wolf issues. We have residents feeding wolves or leaving food out for wolves.”

She asked staff to bring forward a report on their options.

“We don’t want to strike up hope or alarm people before we look at all the options.”

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I was not going to publish these Letter I received from the Mayor and his fellow councilors but in light of resent request to bow-hunt deer and wolves I have decided I will post them. The letter I sent to our mayor can be found at the bottom.

Herb Pond our mayor

David;

Thanks for sharing your thoughts and your experience. I’ve copied this to Council and to key staff.

At this time Council has given no thought to a wolf cull, or to bow hunting. The presentation from COS was for information only, and as you rightly point out, while a wolf cull was included as an option in the report, it was not spoken of very favourably. They did seem to speak more positively about reducing all food sources on the island including deer.

My sense is that the presentation from COS reduced support for a wolf cull and increased interest in attempting solutions more along the lines that you describe.

Thanks, again. H

Gord; Sounds like we have a resident expert who could be a great help to staff in formulating any program. H

From Tony Briglio

Thank you for the added knowledge you bring to us. There is no truth in council suggesting a wolf hunt take place. I would agree that this would only be a temporary solution and as such does not resolve anything.
Thanks again for the time you took to educate us further.
Tony Briglio

From Kathy Bedard

Thanks for your input, David. I do not believe that we must kill wolves for doing what they do naturally. It’s the humans that we must re-educate.

Kathy

Kathy Bedard,

From Sheila Gordon-Payne

Thanks for your letter Mr Watson,

I found it very informative and wish that this type of information was in the paper for the benefit of all.
The options put forward at our meeting were not at our request but just to let us know the possibilities.
I agree with the Mayor that there are many options far less drastic that we could do to manage wolf issues, most notably, more public education etc.

Thanks again,
Sheila

Dear mayor and counselors

My name is David Watson; my family since 2006 has been tracking the wolves of Kaien Island; some of you may have even seen our website kaien island wolves.com. In 2007 we worked with The Raincoast Conservation Foundation, collecting wolf scat for parasite testing.
The Raincoast Conservation Foundation is a non-profit research and public education organization. Who work with scientists, First Nations, government and non-governmental organizations to build support for decisions that protect marine and rainforest habitat on BC’s central and north coast.

We read in Thursday Jan 31,2008 Daily News about the possible killing of the local wolf pack. This wolf pack consists of 7 to 9 individuals I know since we have been watching them that the numbers have not changed even when pups have been born over the last 3 years, the death rate is high among the wolves that live on the island, vehicle hits have taken the lives of more than one wolf, Also one wolf succumbed to his injuries from an encounter with a porcupine this past summer. We understand that a few wolves from the pack have become conditioned to humans through behaviors from some residents living in the Prince Rupert area.

Some of the behaviors are directly having a negative impact on the perception that wolves are at fault when it’s the actions of some individuals that have led to the reactions from some of the wolves from the pack.

There are people in the community who have been hand feeding wild wolves. Thinking their doing that animal a favor; “a fed wolf is a dead wolf”.

The illegal dumping of animal carcasses on Wontage road, I have seen and photographed deer, moose and elk carcasses, I also documented bags of dumped whole crabs, and salmon. These bring in scavengers such as wolves and bear’s. Which in turn bring them closer in to town?
And of course we have the deer, the main diet of the coastal wolf, and we all know that we have too many deer.
Some facts on the coastal wolf, the coastal wolf is genetically different then the wolves from the interior of BC, the coastal wolves may even be older then the gray wolf that is found in BC, and Alaska. The coastal wolf has a varied diet; it consists of deer, salmon, shell fish, berries, mice and other types of sea foods. On some of the furthest island wolves have thriven and adapted to an all seafood diet.
There are 5 packs of wolves in a 25 mile radius of Kaien Island, one pack on Digby Island, a pack near the salt lakes, one pack on the other side of port ED and a pack near Kloaya Bay. It would be only a matter of time before another pack moves in.

We don’t think that a wolf cull is the solution to the problem we are having. Many communities have problems with wild life and have been able to deal with the problem in a pro active way and sparing the life of a wild animal. As the CO has informed you, that a wolf cull is only a short time fix, the deer population needs to be seriously look at, the illegal dumping on Wantage road and as well keeping the gates closed to the dump during winter months, all of which draw wolves and other wild life into city limits, And in to conflicts with human population.
Chris Darimont is a world renowned wolf biologist who has spent many years studying the coastal wolves of BC I would hope that the city would be in contact with someone like Chris who lives on the coast and has great knowledge of the wolves. Chris and Heather Bryan have been very helpful with our endeavor of bringing wolf awareness to Prince Rupert and the world through our stories, photos and videos.

The proposal of opening up hunting to bow hunters on the island is frightening more so then a few problem wolves. I know there will be far more wolves shot with an arrow that will die a slow, frightening and painful death on account of poor marksmanship, than would be the case if shooting were allowed.

Please feel free to contacts to discuss solutions that are more pro active then bow hunting on the island.

David Watson
&
Stacey Lavigne

http://www.kaienislandwolves.com

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A woman in northern B.C. says she’s lucky a wolf that attacked her on Sunday was old and she suffered only bruises, so that she didn’t even need rabies shots.

Marilyn Maple, 68,

shows the bruises she sustained when a wolf attacked her on her farm off the Alaska Highway north of Fort St. John, BC Canada last Sunday.
(CBC)
Marilyn Maple, 68, raises goats on her farm off the Alaska Highway, north of Fort St. John. She’s also a weather watcher for Environment Canada.

“I was heading down to do my weather report, which I do at 4 p.m.,” she told CBC News in an exclusive interview Thursday.

“On my way down [to the weather compound] I hear a goat yelling. I thought, ‘Oh, no! She’s really having a hard birth. I better hurry,’” she said.

“I went into the stall, crouched down … trying to feel her.”

To her surprise, Maple was confronted by a silver looming wolf that was killing her pregnant doe.

Conservation officer Cor Deboon in Fort St. John says the wolf that attacked Marilyn Maple on Sunday was ‘obviously an old animal.’

(CBC)
“As I reached for her, all of a sudden … this crushing force on my arm and that’s what it was.… Something grabbed my arm.

“As my eyes got accustomed I realized I am, you know, roughly 18 inches to two foot from the face of a wolf,” she said.

Maple said she was determined to save her goat so she ran outside and grabbed a pitchfork.

“I came down here to the end of the stall and I went, ‘Go, shoo, go’ and he just turned his head and looked and me and I thought, ‘Oh, no! I better get out of here.’”

‘I realized I am, you know, roughly 18 inches to two foot from the face of a wolf.’
— Marilyn MapleShe locked the goat shed and had to “leave the goat to her demise.” She ran up the hill and called the neighbours for help.

The neighbours and their friends came and shot the animal dead, she said.

Maple took the carcass to conservation officer Cor Deboon in Fort St. John, who examined the wolf.

“[Its] upper canines were broken and chipped and some teeth worn down,” Deboon said. “It was obviously an old animal. It wasn’t all skin and bones but it was quite thin.”

Maple said she only suffered a series of bruises on her arms.

“I was very lucky that it was an old wolf and I had on four layers of clothes.”

Maple lost a goat, but her news wasn’t all bad.

“The next night, my other doe gave me two other babies.”

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Here are a few wolf videos we did..

then this is my Steve Erwin documentry on wolves spoof….

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Nothing like a bunch of guy’s in the bush on a island with itchy fingers with bows hunting down a few wolves. I’m an avid hiker and spend allot of time hiking though Kaien Island,B.C. I’m also not the only one who enjoys hiking our island. I can see some stupid guy behind the bow making a mistake and shooting a human instead of a wolf.
Far more wolves will be shot with an arrow that will die a slow, frightening and painful death on account of poor marksmanship, than would be the case if shooting were allowed. It’s time for the city to step up to plate call in the CO a wolf biologist like Chris Darimont and come up with an action plan.
It’s not every pack member that are coming into town, its 2 or 3 younger individuals from the pack that have become conditioned to humans from direct feeding. It’s these individuals that should be dealt with.

And again I can’t stress enough about coyotes, who are in the city, they are much more dangerous to our pets then wolves are…

So stop leaving you cats and dogs out at night and stop feeding them outside…use some common sense people.

Bowhunting proposed to curb wolf population in Prince Rupert, B.C.
By Cheryl Chan
The Province
Saturday, February 09, 2008

Bowhunting within Prince Rupert city limits is being proposed as a solution to curb growing incursions of wild wolves into town.

A group of local hunters wants city hall to amend a bylaw banning the discharge of bows within municipal boundaries and open Kaien island, where Prince Rupert is located, to bowhunters.
“It’s a good option,” said Jeff Beckwith, who has been a licensed bowhunter for six years. “Until you deal with the attraction of deer in town, more wolves would be coming on the island.”

Under the proposed amendment, hunting would be limited to the city’s vast wooded areas only, and would obey provincial regulations that ban hunting in the vicinity of schools, churches and residential areas.

“The idea isn’t about eliminating a species from the island, but providing some control,” said Beckwith, who uses a traditional long bow and wooden arrows.

“It has proven to be a safe option,” he said. “I don’t want any firearms used on the island at all. This way, you won’t be hearing gunshots in the woods.”

Gord Eason, president of the United Bowhunters of British Columbia, said bowhunting is a safe way to control deer numbers in a semi-urban environment as most bowhunters shoot in close range, usually within 15 to 20 yards of their prey.

It’s also cost-effective, he said. “If you have to hunt them, it’s not a bad option because you have someone doing it for free. And I’d rather have somebody with a bow do it than with a gun.”
Several U.S. states use bowhunting as a method to control wildlife population in city parks, he adds.

The number of wolves in the province — estimated at about 9,000 — fluctuates based on the number of their prey, said Kate Thompson, spokesperson for the Ministry of Environment.
Because of the abundance of deer in Prince Rupert, wolves have been popping up too often for comfort in the northern B.C. community.

More than 130 sightings were recorded last year.

“We’re very concerned about the levels of incidents that we were hearing about even anecdotally,” said Mayor Herb Pond.

The increased number of wolves lurking in backyards has prompted city council to ask a conservation officer from Terrace to provide recommendations on what could be done to minimize wolf-human encounters.

Pond said some wolves have become used to feeding on improperly stowed garbage or pet food left outside houses and are becoming habituated to humans.

Attacks on pets are also a serious concern, with two pets killed and several more attacked last year.

Beckwith said his in-laws, who live in a residential area in Prince Rupert, had their leashed dog attacked by three wolves on the porch just before Christmas.

“They surprised and scared him,” he said. “They weren’t scrawny wolves into people’s garbage. These were big, massive, healthy-looking wolves.”

Beckwith plans to make a formal presentation to city council in the coming weeks.
Pond said council will look at the details of the proposal and ask for public feedback. “It’s an issue that has the potential to be controversial and we want to make sure we hear from everybody.”

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