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Beyond 2000:
Realities of Global Wolf Restoration
23-26 February 2000
Duluth, Minnesota USA
Rick Stronks, Dan Strickland, Algonquin Provincial Park,
Algonquin Visitor Centre, PO Box 219, Whitney, ON K0J 2M0, Canada
Algonquin Provincial Park, the oldest and best known park in Ontario,
has, through its interpretive programs, educated visitors about
wolves for decades. Thousands of visitors each year purchase park
publications on wolves, attend wolf talks and wolf howls, or view
the wolf diorama and wolf video displayed in the Visitor Centre.
There is a strong desire by the public to hear wild wolves as evidenced
by our attendance at our Public Wolf Howls. More than 100,000 visitors
have participated in the program since 1963 and average attendance
is now over 2000 people per event.
Wolves have been protected in Algonquin Park since the early 1960's
but has this created a problem? There have been 5 biting incidents
by 4 wolves since 1987, all by fearless wolves which had been associating
closely with humans for weeks or months before the biting incidents.
The first three bites were not serious but the last two were potentially
life-threatening. In the most recent incident in September 1998,
the wolf walked onto a campsite and seized a 19 month old boy by
the rib cage and tossed him three feet to one side. This was possibly
a predatory attack. All four biting animals were destroyed and veterinary
examination established that the wolves were typical healthy local
wolves.
As park managers, we are left with two troubling questions. Has
the protection of wolves contributed to more fearless wolves in
the population? Given that four of 11 fearless wolves in the last
20 years have ended up biting people, how should we deal with the
next fearless wolf that starts associating with Park visitors?
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