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Trapper Mark Downey said there’s no shortage in North Bay and area of the hybrid wolves protected within Algonquin Park and a buffer around it. Downey said more than half of the ones snared on a line he assists to maintain north of Trout Lake (along the pipeline route toward Turtle Lake) are diseased with mange and appear to be the recently classified Algonquin wolf, a mix of eastern wolves and coyotes. This photo was taken last year. The CEO of Fur Harvesters Auction Inc. said the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry should do more independent studies with the help of trappers providing samples before broader protections are formulated. Mark Downey Photo
Broadening protection for the Algonquin wolf might turn out worse than bear and moose management schemes
Dave Dale / The Nugget
Wednesday, December 27, 2017 12:58:48 EST AM
Wolves are capitalizing on a venison buffet as the deer crisscross the newly formed ice on Trout Lake for a circuit of well-intentioned deer feeding stations on the shoreline.
Three different carcasses were left behind in the last week near Four Mile Bay and the peninsula, with ravens, eagles and vultures cleaning up the leftovers.
Trapper Mark Downey, who lives near the end of Northshore Road, said last year five were snared on a line following the pipeline to Turtle Lake he helps maintain, let alone his personal trap line on the West Arm of Lake Nipissing.
“There’s lots of them, all kinds,” Downey said, referring to both the numbers and variety in the bush near here.
Ontario’s wild canines include the grey wolves or timbers, their slightly smaller eastern cousins, the much smaller coyote, and the mixed hybrids of grey-eastern wolves and coyote, the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry recently named Algonquin wolves.
The hybrids, also called coy-wolf or brush wolf, have longer legs than the coyotes, as well as broader heads with shorter ears, but smaller than a big grey or timber wolf.
Trappers, hunters and farmers control their numbers in most areas, but the number killed on roadways is hard to pin down.
Jodi Toole Martin, replying to a reporter’s Facebook query about the subject, said her husband hit and killed one on Highway 63 near Feronia just days ago.
Downey, CEO of Fur Harvesters Auction Inc. in North Bay, is among those speaking out against the possibility of the province broadening coyote and wolf protections to help the Algonquin variety thrive outside the parkland boundary.
In 2016, the Algonquin wolf was classified as threatened under the Endangered Species Act and recommendations to update a management plan are due in just over six months.
Hunting and trapping bans (for native wolves and coyotes, as well as the hybrids) were expanded beyond a previous buffer of townships outside Algonquin and Killarney provincial parks, west of Lake Nipissing and bordering Lake Huron.
Calling for expanded protections are groups such as Wolves Ontario, which says the province has not gone far enough. The group advocates for Algonquin wolves to be listed under federal law as threatened to force Quebec into action.
Downey said the Ontario Fur Managers Federation, among other groups, recommend the ministry ‘hit the pause button” on any further legislative action until additional studies are done.
Robin Horwath, general manager of the ministry office in Sault Ste. Marie, told The Nugget there is conflicting science on whether Algonquin hybrids can actually be considered a separate species. And, he said, it appears the third generation doesn't survive well, requiring continuous re-crossing between eastern wolves and coyotes to keep packs strong even when protected.
Horwath and Downey also say the province should be cautious about broader protections for these top-end predators because they throw eco-systems out of balance.
They both point to the spring bear hunt ban of 2000 that allowed male adult bruin populations to blossom to the point moose populations were decimated and human conflicts increased. Pilot projects to return the spring bear hunt to the mix indicate that a political decision lacking scientific basis now must be corrected after damaging economic and biological worlds.
Downey said even wetland diversity will be impacted if wolves, coyotes and the hybrids receive too much protection, with beavers a staple for growing populations.
In the meantime, there’s indication it might not be long before half-eaten deer carcasses are found closer to the heart of North Bay. In the city’s southern neighbourhoods of West Ferris, sandwiched between the Parks Creek watershed and Lake Nipissing, it’s a nightly routine to see three, four or more deer at a time cruising through into neighbourhoods. Ornamental cedars and the fast-food deer treats poured out for them are too much to resist, especially the colder it gets.
Those that survive vehicles crossing Booth Road have another fatal threat on their hove heals, though, as residents report the sounds and signs of canine predators increasing in frequency.
“In the last two months while standing on my front stoop watching the deer, I heard a very close deep growl from the corner of my home,” said Dan Seguin, a Nugget pressman who lives between the North Bay Mall and bush line. “The same occurred with my wife and she immediately ran inside. Those deer were being followed and stalked.”
Seguin said it happened before the snow came, with no prints left behind, but noted two years ago they also had bobcat tracks in the yard.
Hunters of deer, meanwhile, south of Lake Nipissing, through to Powassan, Corbeil and Chisholm say their quarry is thinning out while the wolf presence is growing.
Some say there is more urgency now to track a wounded deer and get it out of the bush quickly as they hear the howling close in.
“We own 639 acres between North Bay and Corbeil,” Bryan Lawson said. “I can personally tell you the wolves eat better than any other animal around … almost every time you sit hunting, wolves have got a deer before the day is done.”
He described how one time they were nearly run off a deer they shot and tracked past dark.
Downey said it doesn’t make sense to protect a hybrid group of wolves “at the expense of everything else,” while warning that doing so might turn out worse than the experiments with bear and moose management schemes.
“This thing with the wolf will be far worse,” he said, adding there may be increased spread of rabies and livestock loss, as well as threats to pets and children.
“Nobody loves to hear wolves howl as much as me” but tipping the scales with a top predator that reproduces fast without checks and balances is risky “and it’s going to be really bad, really fast.”
Fast facts from Ontario.ca
• The eastern wolf was listed as special concern when the Endangered Species Act took effect in 2008, and was renamed Algonquin wolf and re-classified as threatened on June 15, 2016.
• Status assessments by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) and by the Committee on the Status of Species at Risk in Ontario (COSSARO) refer to the same taxonomic entity (group of animals). However, COSSARO concluded that the eastern wolf is no longer the appropriate common name. Although there was once a distinct species called eastern wolves, a long history of hybridization among eastern wolves, grey wolves and coyotes, has led to a hybrid taxon that is evolutionarily distinct from other canids.
Threatened
"Threatened" means the species lives in the wild in Ontario, is not endangered, but is likely to become endangered if steps are not taken to address factors threatening it.
Where it’s been found in Ontario
Ontario’s Algonquin wolf population is estimated to be fewer than 500 mature individuals. A core concentration of Algonquin wolf can be found in Algonquin Provincial Park and surrounding townships. Algonquin wolves are also found in other areas of central Ontario, including in and around Killarney Provincial Park, Kawartha Highlands Signature Site and Queen Elizabeth II Wildlands. Populations of Algonquin wolf outside of Algonquin Park are small and relatively isolated.
Action we are taking
It’s difficult to distinguish the Algonquin wolf from other species. Because of this we are prohibiting hunting and trapping of wolves and coyotes in the core Algonquin wolf occurrence areas.
When outside of these areas, you are exempt from section 9 of the Endangered Species Act while hunting and trapping Algonquin wolf, as long as you’re in accordance with the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Act and its regulations.
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