Parks Canada collared a Bow Valley yearling female wolf on May 27 after concerns she was in danger of becoming food conditioned.
Jesse Whittington, a wildlife biologist with Banff National Park said the young gray coloured wolf had to be collared after they noticed she was acting indifferent towards people.
“Earlier in the spring we received reports that she was hanging out in an area that was under construction and that she was acting totally indifferent towards people. When we collared her she was acting curious towards vehicles, but for the most part since we have collared her she has stayed out of highly used areas,” said Whittington.
She was fitted with a GPS collar near Tunnel Mountain campground so her movements could be monitored, and so that she can be hazed if she travels too close to high use areas.
“We don’t know for sure if she was fed by people but certainly she was heading down that road. The wolves are maintaining their distance from people right now which is a good thing. Wolves need to be somewhat habituated to people to travel throughout the Bow Valley but if they become overly habituated to people then they are in danger of becoming food-conditioned; they can access garbage or people might try to feed the wolves,” explained Whittington.
“Once wolves, bears, foxes get a taste for human food it’s very difficult to change their behavior so we are trying to get ahead of the game and make sure these wolves don’t become food conditioned.”
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