Thursday 3 January 2013

Wolves escape Haliburton wildlife reserve through vandalism

What a horrible thing to do. You'd like to think that it is ignorance, rather than something stupid like pure vandalism, but I wonder. Stupidity is the active pursuit of ignorance. What are people thinking? There are reasons why the wolves are there, they cannot exist in the wild.

The Wolf Reserve owner writes about this Criminal Wolf Pack release. Criminal, indeed. It is a well-orchestrated event, with vandals opening both the inside and the outside enclosures, cutting holes for the wolves to escape in a place where staff couldn't observe the actions.

Two Arctic Wolves – sisters – needed to be to be
taken in by Aspen Valley from another centre
facing bankruptcy
- or they would be euthanized. 
The reserve’s owner, Peter Schleifenbaum, believes the vandals are animal rights activists or “individuals with a similar zeal to ‘liberate’ captive animals.”

It could well be true. But such stupidity. I visited Aspen Valley Wildlife Reserve last year. I learned a lot. All of the animals were born in captivity, and needed to live in captivity. Some were abused, others couldn't be cared for or released into the wild.

Zoe Coyote at Aspen Valley
These wolves at the Haliburton Reserve (see their photos), for example, are fed dead carcasses. It takes skill to track, hunt, and take down a 150 lb. deer. They don't have these skills. We have a neighbourhood wolf that dragged off roadkill into the forest. I imagine if it were easier to take down a deer, it wouldn't have chosen a three-day-old carcass.

A hunter, who had been using Mama bear
 to train dogs how to attack bears,
had her front claws and eyeteeth removed
so she was unable to defend herself.
These things almost always end badly. One of Haliburton Forest's staff noticed a bloody dragmark down the hill, about 200 meters north of the Wolf Centre. They found a cartridge and hair, and they believe that sometime that day Haida, the alpha male of the pack, was shot, killed, and taken away by a motorist. How shameful. Schliefenbaum, and his staff, is trying desperately to get the animals back into the enclosure. It's not easy.
The history of this wolf pack is interesting. Almost always there is a story. No one want to keep these wild animals if they have any understanding or concern for them. They are wild animals. Aspen Valley's critters all have horribly sad stories, and they reintroduce them to the wild, when possible. These licenced facilities exist on donations. They don't do this for fun, but out of a love of animals.

Another sanctuary: Bear With Us Sanctuary and Rehabilitation Centre for Bears
See www.bearwithus.org

Awareness and Understanding can save the life of a bear. This page is for educational use. Allowing people the opportunity to "Understand Bears." https://www.facebook.com/Understanding.Bears .

Eurasian Lynx, Banshee, used in a movie,
no longer needed, her new owner couldn't care for her,
they were going to put her down.
Aspen Valley took her in.
This isn't the only time people have done this. I wrote in November, 2008, about Fallow Deer Reserve, near Kingston. They had someone vandalize their fence and shoo their 13 rescued deer outside of the pen. A damn shame during hunting season, especially. Their stories are told here:



SAINTS is an end-of-life B.C. sanctuary for senior and special needs animals that have nowhere else to go.

4 comments:

Olga said...

Very sad to read this. People can make animal lives so hard.
Neighbors in VT recently had a German shepherd shot by a coyote hunter. At least he imediately reported his mistake.

Red said...

There are always idiots.
We know that with animals there are some that can not be released. We have a wildlife rehabilitation facility here. They have an owl and porcupine that they use for educational purposes. both are blind.

Phil Slade said...

It's a sad tale Jenn. People can be such plain idiots.

Kay said...

That is very tragic indeed. It's sad when people try to do good without knowing all the facts. They are also doing something illegal which makes it worse.