Highway taking toll on park’s wolf packs

July 24, 1998
Source: Edmonton Journal
Original story - link verified on August 20, 2000
By Johnnie Bachusky

Cars, trucks and trains are killing off wolves in the national park, forcing Parks Canada to make safety improvements to the Trans-Canada highway. Fence gates along the highway through the national park are being redesigned and a study is looking at elevating sections of the highway to help wolves to cross safely. "We have got to fix these corridors, there is no question about that, but we don't want to be throwing good money after bad," said Dave Dalman, manager of the ecosystems secretariat of Banff National Park. "Clearly, we have concerns about the effectiveness of the underpasses." Carolyn Callaghan, assistant director of the Central Rockies Wolf Project, said the national park's Bow Valley pack, one of five groups totalling 40 wolves in the national park, has been cut down from nine wolves to four due to road and rail mortalities, and is in serious jeopardy of becoming extinct.

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