Wolves in Manitoba Park Threatened

     The wolves in Riding Mountain National Park (RMNP) are declining. From the 1970s to the 1990s the wolf population in the Park has gone from about 75 to about 30 individuals. According to scientists there, the prey availability has not changed, so the decline cannot be blamed on that. Gloria Goulet, a biologist doing research on wolves at RMNP, says it seems to be a combination of human impacts from hunting and trapping, possible inbreeding and the effects of mange. Goulet believes that disruption to the wolves' social structure due to the random killing of wolves, is affecting them adversely as well.

     This park is in Manitoba, a province of Canada which is primarily agricultural land, so the park is an island of trees surrounded by farms. It is a high plateau, about 1200 ft. above the surrounding prairie. To the north about 35 km is another park, Duck Mountain Provincial Park (DMPP), which is RMNP's source for wolves. When RMNP was made a national park in the 1920s there were no wolves living there at all due to human extirpation of the species in the region. But shortly after that wolves moved back in, probably from DMPP, and have survived ever since. The wolves do not have full protection in Duck Mountain, as provincial parks do not limit hunting and trapping like national parks do.

     Research done by Ludwig Carbyn in the 1970s determined that the park could support about 200 wolves, but the population has remained at about 60-80 until the recent decline. Goulet said that due to the killing of wolves that leave the park's boundaries, the population has not been able to rise to that level which the prey could support.

     Goulet is trying to get protection for this wolf population. Manitoba has no scientific data on the wolf populations throughout the province, she said. But since most of the southern part of the province is agricultural, and the northern part does not have high prey levels, she believes the population is not very large. Manitoba's government claims the population of wolves is healthy based on what they learn from trappers, and estimate there are 4000 wolves in the province.

     Goulet wants to get the population in the park listed as threatened, so that some form of protection can be put in place around the park's borders where many of the wolves are killed. All of the wolves studied in the Park left its borders at some point, meaning they risk being killed. This situation is similar to the problems encountered by wolf supporters in the Algonquin Park region, in Ontario, Canada.

     Even trappers have noticed the reduced wolf levels, Goulet said, and support protection for wolves. Outside of the Park the wolves are considered Big Game and are hunted and killed for many reasons. There are individuals who want wolf pelts, and others that fear wolves or consider them pests and kill them at any opportunity, Goulet said. The government does not require that wolves killed be reported, so there is no way to track how many wolves are actually killed each year. This is something Goulet would like to see changed. She has done research and estimates that about one third of the park's wolves are killed annually.

     A new law is supposed to come into effect in two years which shortens the hunting season. It is currently legal to hunt wolves anytime except mid-June to mid-August. The new law will limit the season to only November through January. With the trappers' support, the trapping season was reduced last year.

     The mange problem has been detected since about 1992. Although mange does not usually eliminate wolf populations, it can increase mortality rates until it works its way through the population. Mange itself does not kill the animals, but the loss of fur leads to them dying of exposure in the winter. The disease tends to run in 16-20 year cycles, Goulet said, so it will probably be around for a while longer.

     When discussion of wolf protection in Manitoba comes up, some citizens consider it to infringe on their rights in terms of gun control and oppose it on that ground, Goulet said. But a survey showed that 80% of local people are pro-wolf, including hunters and trappers.

     Livestock depredation is not a big problem in this area due to the quantity of prey. About 1% of livestock is affected. To help with this situation Goulet started a livestock compensation fund for farmers who can prove they experience losses due to wolves. The program is only for farms in a specific region surrounding RMNP and DMPP, not the entire province. It was begun in the summer of 1994 and has only been used in three cases since then. The program is run by a volunteer committee of biologists, livestock producers and local landowners. The money in the fund is collected from educational talks on wolves, and donations including those from collection boxes placed in stores, restaurants, and in the park itself.

     A law providing compensation from the province for all predator damage, including wolf damage, is being reviewed by Manitoba. Currently the province does not compensate. But if a problem is reported the province will provide cyanide bait to try and kill the offending animal. This is non-specific predator control and is another practice Goulet is fighting against.

     Along with establishing the compensation fund, Goulet has been doing educational programs for hunters, farmers, outfitters and anyone else she can get to listen.

     Recently the pressure on the habitat around the park has increased. Timber companies have been buying rights to harvest trees in the forests near the parks. In one sale, Louisiana-Pacific purchased the rights from the province to cut about two million old-growth aspen trees over ten years on land just north of RMNP. This type of cutting reduces the corridors through which wildlife can travel, and might decrease the numbers of wolves which can disperse from DMPP to RMNP. This increases the "island effect," where a population of a species is isolated from a feed population and can become inbred and suffer from disease and other problems. The issue of inbreeding is something Goulet is studying through the use of DNA.

     She is currently finishing work on a DNA study to be published soon. The study, done under Paul Pacquet's guidance with researchers at the University of Alberta's forensic wildlife laboratory, compares the Manitoba region wolves with each other and with wolves from the Alberta and British Columbia area. Samples from 33 Manitoba wolves were collected in RMNP and DMPP, as well as other areas. The other samples are from the wolves which were moved to Yellowstone National Park in the U.S.

     A report by Parks Canada in 1994 said that many national parks are suffering from problems including adjacent land use, utility corridors, dams, acid rain, pollution and climate change. Recently the Parks Canada budget was reduced by 24%, so it is difficult for these problems to be addressed. A report by the Auditor General of Canada in 1996 cited RMNP as an example of a park suffering from financial problems. The report stated "We are concerned that Parks Canada's ability to preserve ecological integrity in national parks and ensure sustainable park use will be seriously challenged."

     It is only in the national parks that the wolf is protected by law in Canada--the wolves living in the north are in healthy populations not due to protection, but to remoteness and lack of human influence. As Canada wrestles with conservation of species and habitat it will need to answer some questions about its relationship with the non-human world. Is it enough to have wolves in the north, or do ecosystems in the south need wolves too? Do humans share the land with animals such as wolves, or do we let the animals remain only in areas we feel are unfit for habitation? Is nature and wildness a part of Canada's identity, or is it just a resource to be used by its citizens?

This article is copyrighted © and can not be used without express permission of WOLF! Magazine.

It is reprinted from the Summer 1997 Issue of WOLF! Magazine. This unique and comprehensive magazine is not supported by advertising, but by subscriptions. Please help keep this much needed resource alive!

Subscribe Today.

Site managed by TigerwolfImages used with permission of the Artist
Web page © 1998 Monty Sloan

Last revised: January 18, 1998