On the hunt for elusive creatures like cougars and wolves, wildlife enthusiasts have been furtively placing remote, motion-activated cameras in the national parks.
Parks Canada has issued a warning after finding unauthorized cameras well off the beaten trail in Banff, Yoho, and Kootenay. Anyone wanting to place one must apply for a research permit or face fines as high as $25,000.
“The most recent ones found have been in close proximity to sensitive nesting or denning sites. We’ve found them on more than one occasions close to a wolf den,” said Seth Cherry, a Parks ecologist based in Radium.
He wouldn’t speculate on who or why the cameras were installed but said they were not likely put up by the average tourist.
A Reconyx remote wildlife camera similar to what researchers use in the field.
“Typically, people would have to know what they’re looking for. It’s probably a case of someone who knows the habits of these animals and the habitat they use.”
Cherry said Parks staff have found more of the remote cameras in the last few years as technology improves and prices drop. Instead of being used exclusively by scientists and professional photographers, anyone with an interest in wildlife can buy one and set it up easily.
Canmore-based nature photographer Jason Bantle, who also holds a master’s degree in ecology, worries that too often national parks are being treated like public land and not something to be protected.
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“Anytime you are leaving any type of human presence in the forest you have no idea how you’re impacting the wildlife. Even minimal disturbance will cause wolves to abandon dens or potentially abandon their young,” said Bantle, who just returned from an Arctic trip photographing polar bears.
“There’s a bigger issue occurring more and more and that’s the ethical obtaining of wildlife images and where’s the line?
“As a wildlife photographer, every time I take an image I’ve impacted that animal and what’s the cost of that versus my art or message or whatever I’m capturing? When people start to put the image in front of the animal, that’s when we’re blurring the lines too far.”
Both Bantle and Cherry acknowledge the cameras are a great tool — Banff park scientists once had about 100 remote cameras set up in 10-by-10 kilometre grids. Among other images, they captured a grizzly bear following a wolf, wolverines wandering in the backcountry and wildlife using the Bow Valley Parkway when it was closed to traffic. The cameras were also used in Kootenay, Yoho, Waterton and Jasper national parks to keep an eye on the movements of large mammals.
“When remote cameras are used properly, they’re a very useful and non-invasive tool. But we need to ensure any data used is for legitimate, scientific purposes. We also need to ensure no animals are present when they’re erected and maintained,” said Cherry.
He also said it’s a privacy concern if images of unsuspecting hikers or tourists are collected. Any cameras legally allowed in the national park are locked so the memory cards cannot be tampered with and images of people are properly disposed of.
For anyone wanting a window into wildlife, Banff park staff set up their own remote camera in 2010 which captured the comings and goings of all manner of species for a full year. The almost five-minute-long YouTube video, called A Wild Year, shows elk, deer, bears, moose, mountain goats, cougars and foxes.
