With the black bear incident in Newmarket and bear encounters this spring in Barhaven, Richmond and now Manotick, our Region appears to be crawling with bruins.
It has been 10 years since 2005, the year of the most fatal bear attacks in history. Are we headed in that direction?
Is it time to call for a state of emergency?
Outdoorsguy
Ottawa cyclist Kerry Shurman had no idea what was in store for her during a leisurely ride on the Trans Canada trail between Stittsville and Carleton Place.
All was going well until a family of seemingly harmless geese appeared on the trail before her and suddently all hell broke loose!
After giving the waterfowl some space, Shurman thought she’d just ‘zip past’ them and on her way but somehow misjudged how fast she was pedalling, or perhaps she startled the geese.
In a split second the final goose in the group, which appeared larger and evidently more agressive than the rest, was up in her face faster than you can say cooked goose!
The forlorn fowl wrapped its wings around Shurman’s head, as she recalls, and the next thing she remembered was lying on the ground in pain unable to get up!
Fortunately another cyclist happened-by and brought the dazed and badly injured cyclist to seek medical attention.
Kelly Shurman suffered a concussion, face lacerations, a fractured cheekbone and a loose tooth! She spend 5-days in the hospital before being released.
It just goes to prove, you never know what an animal is capable of until they’re on top pounding the pickles out of you!
A Canada Goose though? Who’d a thunk it!
As a footnote to this story, reports say that while lying injured beside the bike path, Shurman also contracted poison ivy! (If being attacked by a goose wasn’t bad enough)
Outdoorsguy
Ahhh, don’t you wish it was Fall again?
I know I do, especially after browsing through some of my favorite trail cam images from this past fall. I never get tired of photographing deer, I don’t know what it is.
All of the following Bushnell trophy-cam images were taken around my place – right here within City of Ottawa Limits from 4 different trail cam locations. Each camera is a slightly different model with somewhat different features.
Take note that most of these deer have never been hunted and end-up succumbing to predators, the elements, are hit by cars, or die of old age. (Vehicles and predators usually get them long before natural causes do)
No, I may not get to hunt these beautiful animals, but observing and photographing them throughout the year is nearly as rewarding. (almost)
Here are a few images to kick-it off and I’ll be adding a bunch more this evening…
Enjoy…Fall is still a long 9-months away !!
I have come to the conclusion that our once fair City has become nothing but a bunch of animal rights tree huggers and dicky-birders.
First it was the Barrhaven wild turkeys earlier this spring, and the whole City was abuzz. OMG, these irate wild birds are going to peck our eyes out!
And chaos ensued!
Then it was the Westboro squirrels, and the whole City was in an uproar. Evidently residents of this trendy, small-mammal hating part of town were live trapping squirrels and relocating them across the river to Quebec. (Because, of course, squirrels are considered ‘fur bearers’ and you cannot legally shoot them)
And chaos ensued! (They even started a bloody Twitter feed over it…)
And NOW, City of Ottawa naturalists are up in arms about a group of Jockvale Bridge barn swallows! What, a lowly bug loving barn swallow has thrown the proverbial wrench in a multi-million dollar bridge project??
That’s right, and you guessed it chaos ensued once again!!
For gawd’s sake people, I have barn swallows nesting in my trailer up in Cobden but HERE in the tree-huggingest City in the world, the barn swallow is considered Threatened??
How did the barn swallow make it on the threatened list now, you ask? (I was scratching my head over this one too) I mean, they’re not killing the swallows they’re simply removing the nests. There are plenty of other overhangs and clay left in the region to construct new ones.
As I explained during a chat this am on CHEZ 106 FM’s Doc & Woody Show, nowhere in the world is the barn swallow considered threatened except here in the tree-huggingest Province of Ontario..and being exemplified right here in the treehuggingest City of Ottawa!
My guess is that some Ottawa tree hugging Naturalist has confused Barn Owl with Barn Swallow…and placed them on an threatened list by accident. The Barn owl does, of course, appear on the Canadian Species at Risk list but nowhere did I find Barn Swallow.
Perhaps if I were to go outside and hug a tree reallllly hard, it would all come to me; in a flurry of emotion and clarity and this nonsense would somehow finally make sense!
Until then, think I’ll just crawl inside one of those Westboro live traps and get relocated to the QC side…
Outdoorsguy
The eastern coyote has been a huge topic of conversation here on the Outdoors Guy over the past couple of years. Even when the subject is changed, things always seem to revert back to wile e coyote and its place(or lack thereof) in the Nation’s Capital.
MNR Biologist Scott Smithers recently spoke with Ron Corbett of the Ottawa SUN to share, what I would describe as, important insight into the coyote situation from a wildlife management standpoint.
It would seem apparent that even an MNR Biologist realizes something needs to be done about predator control, but alas politics and animals rights rear their ugly heads.
I see the coyote now like that kid in elementary school who was always getting in trouble. My parents would tell me “yeah, but he has troubles at home”, and the teachers would label him a problem child or blame it on upbringing. Sure, he’d be good for few days but you just knew things were on the edge of boiling over at any given moment.
Our coyotes are like this troubled kid in school. Sure, it may not be completely the child’s fault but they continue to disrupt the class so something needs to be done about it.
Here is Ron Corbett’s article:
By Ron Corbett
On Sunday, I wrote about the problems a woman in Nepean was having during the Christmas holidays with a coyote in her backyard.
The eastern Ontario biologist for the natural resources ministry is aware of the story and thinks it should be a wake-up call for the city of Ottawa, especially as it pursues a new wildlife management strategy.
“Most cities in Ontario are in denial when it comes to coyotes,” says Scott Smithers. “For years we have been telling people that coyotes are not dangerous, that there have never been coyote attacks on people in Eastern Canada.
“Well, we can’t say that anymore. There have been attacks. And the truth is, coyotes are changing – their habits, the sheer number of them – it’s a very different situation from what it was even five years ago.”
Last month a seven-year-old girl was bitten by a coyote in her backyard in Oakville. In October 2009, a teenager was attacked and killed by coyotes in Cape Breton. These are the attacks Smithers is talking about.
He says a reassessment on how the city handles wildlife issues – from beavers in Stittsville to coyotes in Nepean – is “long overdue” although he worries “a lot of emotional arguments” may doom the exercise before it even gets started.
He won’t come right out and say it, but he’s talking about political correctness. About treating wild animals like Disney characters, little doe-eyed Bambis that can never be hunted, trapped, or even bothered.
Yet we need this debate. You just have to look at an aerial map of Ottawa to see why. We are surrounded by wilderness, with green space running like the spokes on a wagon wheel from the rural boundary right up to the downtown core.
Smithers says there are probably coyotes living within a kilometre of Parliament Hill. “We are a southern Ontario city,” he says, “with Northern Ontario wildlife issues.”
Despite this rather unique characteristic of our city, we have no strategy on how to manage our wildlife, or what to do when there are conflicts between animals and people. We simply refer people to other levels of government. Or expect the police to deal with it.
Two years ago — when coyotes started eating lap dogs in Osgoode — the city finally decided it was time to come up with some sort of plan. It formed an advisory committee, to make recommendations on a municipal wildlife management strategy.
Smithers sits on that committee, although he is not optimistic the city will end up with a good plan.
“To be frank, I found it a frustrating experience,” he says. “A lot of stakeholders were involved, and there was a lot of emotion at the meetings. I’m not sure good science is going to dictate the city’s policy.” What might carry the day is the “emotional argument” that says animals should never be hurt, under any circumstances.
Smithers says such a policy would be foolhardy. He says people should come first in a city, even though he is a trained biologist and hopes the city policy will respect wildlife.
“It’s like that woman in Nepean with the coyote in her backyard,” says Smithers. “That coyote clearly is showing no fear of humans, and that’s dangerous. You can’t just tell her to co-exist with that animal.” Yet that’s exactly what many animal rights groups tell municipalities to do. The most egregious example might be Glendale, Arizona, which debated a cull of coyotes after a four-year-old girl was killed by coyotes.
Animal Defense League member Pamelyn Ferdin, covered in fake blood, appeared at the council meeting to oppose the cull and to argue the child had not actually been killed by coyotes, but had been the victim of child abuse.
The cull went ahead, and within 80 days 56 coyotes had been trapped or killed within half-a-mile of the attack site.
“You shouldn’t walk around in fear of coyotes. You need to realize these attacks are extremely rare,” says Smithers. “At the same time, you shouldn’t walk around thinking wild animals are pets.” City staff is currently putting the finishing touches on the wildlife management strategy report. It should come before city council this spring.
It will be interesting to see how the city has responded to the various stakeholders in this debate. Let’s hope people get as much respect as animals, and science trumps emotion.
Other related coyote articles:
http://www.ottawasun.com/2012/02/04/coyotes-run-wild-in-ottawa
http://www.ottawasun.com/2012/01/20/coyote-bites-girl-after-chasing-her-home
Outdoorsguy
(Jefferson Salamander photographed at my property in East Ottawa)
Ok, this cute little guy may not seem that impressive, but I assure you it is one rare find indeed!
According to the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM):
The Jefferson Salamander requires intact deciduous forest with undisturbed forest floor and unpolluted breeding ponds. It is likely that habitat loss and degradation, caused by urban development and agriculture, are responsible for the declines in this species in southern Ontario. Today, the Ontario populations are small, isolated pockets each numbering a few hundred individuals. Small populations are always susceptible to local extinction due to chance events such as floods, fire or other catastrophes.
Range: The Jefferson Salamander lives in deciduous forests. Its range extends from New England south to Maryland, and west to Illinois. In Canada, it occurs only in Ontario, where it has been reported from about 30 sites. (In Southwestern Ontario)
This rare specimen is, in fact, the second Jefferson Salamander we have spotted around our property. We actually found another one outside our garage last fall as it was preparing for hibernation. The one I discovered today, whom I’ve decided to call ‘Jeff’ for obvious reasons, was evidently keeping himself warm around the outside of our septic tank.
These special creatures are protected under the Endangered Species Act:
Protection for Jefferson Salamanders is provided by Ontario’s Endangered Species Act, 2007 prohibits actions such as killing, capturing, possessing, selling or trading of the species. The Natural Heritage component of the Provincial Policy Statement under Ontario’s Planning Act provides for the protection of significant habitat of endangered species. Most populations in Ontario are on private land and are close to urban areas. Populations in Conservation Areas and Provincial Parks receive protection.
Don’t ask me what this endangered species is doing here in the Ottawa-area (several hundred miles from SW Ontario), but I feel fortunate they’ve chosen my property to hang out in.
Outdoorsguy
P.S. For those who are wondering, the Great Outdoors is not always about hunting & fishing.
We all know the difficulties faced when a large mammal ventures too close to town. We’ve seen it happen a lot lately. Sometimes it ends well and other times not so well.
The most recent incident involves a family of moose spotted in the NRC property near Montreal Rd and Blair. For the time being, these wayward moose have moved back into a forested area, but for how long? The blistering heat, the flies and frustration will, undoubtedly, push them back out onto city streets. It’s only a matter of time.
It has been brought to my attention that some concerned citizens have actually divulged the exact location of said moose, and even went so far as to provide Google Earth co-ordinates of where they can be spotted.
As the city, MNR and nearly formed wildlife task force deal with situations like this as they arise, I would ask the public NOT to interfere.
The undue stress and commotion of people stopping-by to catch a glimpse of the Bullwinkle family could have some serious adverse effects.
If you really want to help, just leave these moose well enough along and allow the professionals a chance to take care of things.
Outdoorsguy
PETA protestors dressed in bear suits showed their disapproval of the foot guard’s hats made of bear skin during the Queen’s visit this week.
I dont believe this one requires any comment.
Outdoorsguy
Do you have experience with large mammals?
Can you respond quickly to wildlife incidents around town?
Do you know how to administer tranquilizers and use a rifle?
Can you go shirtless and rugged to take down a bear in a lake or river?
If you have answered yes to the above questions, the City of Ottawa may have a position for you!!
A meeting yesterday between the City of Ottawa, National Capital Commission and the Ministry of Natural Resources came up with a plan whereby the City would hire a private company or individual to handle all big-game situations within city limits.
In the interim, the MNR has said they will provide assistance in this regard until a dedicated wildlife officer can be hired by the City.
“They are going to get some chemical immobilization training so they will be ready as of Monday should anything happen next week.” MNR Minister Linda Jeffrey told CBC news.
A rash of what can best be described as bumbled wildlife encounters around town have prompted criticism towards the City of Ottawa, but according to MNR Minister, the Mayor and the City are now taking responsibly for it.
The situation is Ottawa was only exacerbated this week by a Montreal moose takedown and relocation that went very smoothly. Montreal police we given immediate assistance by Quebec Wildlife officials.
My guess is that many folks here at the Outdoors Guy probably have enough big-game experience, and with a bit of training would do quite a fine job as a Wildlife Officer for the City of Ottawa.
Any takers??
Outdoorsguy
