A special thanks to all of our sponsors! Northern Lights Wildlife Wolf Centre IImmppoorrttaanntt DDaatteess Your generous contribution to our centre has March 10th: Daylight savings time helped us through tough times. th March 17 : St. Patrick’s Day In Loving Memory of TTHHEE WWOOLLFF PPRRIINNTT March 31st: Easter Sunday nd www.northernlightswildlife.com 1745 Short Rd Golden B.C 1-877-377-9653 Fall 2012 Volume 1 Issue 2 April 22 : Earth Day th May 12 : Mother’s Day th: Father’s Day June 16 st st Tuk 1999-2011 Aspen 1998-2013 June 21 : 1 day of summer! July 1st: Canada Day M M o o t t h h e e rr NNaattuurree:: HHooww DDoo WWee nd Our Karelians Sept. 2 : Labour Day Luke, Utah, Hopi & Jackson DDeeppeenndd OOnn HHeerr??

You can help promote wolf awareness; help to educate people, and help change legislation to protect our wilderness Help us reach our goals:  Expand the facility to include interactive and educational exhibits about wolves and the environment  Continued petition of government to protect top predators The New Wolf Print!  And, of course, the care and feeding of our wolf pack Your Name and/or Business Name______

We are happy to announce that Address:______City:______beginning this fall we are changing the format of Wolf Print. We will be Province / State:______Postal / Zip:______sending out a larger more Telephone: ( )______Email:______informative newsletter twice a year. Renewal Yes! I wish to receive “The Wolf Print” by email

T-Shirt Size (if applicable): Adult – S M L XL Youth – S M L XL Kids – 2T 3T 4T Adopt A Wolf $75 Pack Membership Howling Wolf Aspen Maya Wiley Alpha Pack Member $100 Wolf Guardian $1000 Moab Keehta Mack Beta Pack Member $50 Receive a photo session for 2 Moki Flora Scrappy Puppy Pack Member $20

Pack Membership includes a bi-annual newsletter, photos, and other assorted goodies

8 Adopt a Wolf from our pack and you will receive photos of your wolf, updates and stories in spring and fall via our newsletter, and the undying

devotion of your sponsored wolf… Sponsorship may be renewed annually A howling thanks!

CENTRE NEWS Time flies when

Birthday Season you’re having fun! at the What’s Happening This Summer Our babies will be one year old in April! The

Unfortunatelly,, thiis year we have opted not to holld an open house whole staff at NLW has really enjoyed Wolf Centre! event to kiick off our summer; the next one wiillll be for our 15 year Since all wolves are born during watching these young ones grow right before anniiversary. Nonethelless,, whether you are iinterested iin llearniing our eyes. This was their first winter at the spring time, all of our wolves are more about wollves or are a “wollf llover”,, we have somethiing for centre and their first time experiencing snow! going to be celebrating their you! We stiillll offer our 30 miinute iinterpretiive tallk where our It didn’t take them too long until they figured birthdays in this Spring! That means awesome staff teaches you allll about wollves,, as wellll as our Wallk out how to keep warm during the colder lots of cake for the human pack wiith the Wollves where you can iinteract more clloselly wiith some of winter months. Even though they look like a Flora’s first visit with Maya at 20 our wollves. We are allso hopiing to have a kiid statiion ready for the members and hopefully a piece of mini Moab and Wiley, Scrappy Dave & Flora summer so that allll ages can enjjoy theiir tiime at our beautiifull days old roadkill for the wolves. have developed their own unique facility. facility. personalities; Scrappy Dave has become our This year, our beautiful Maya will resident goofball and Flora has become our celebrate her 14th birthday, Wiley Siince 2004,, the Wollf Centre has hosted tour groups of young new ambassador wolf that goes into schools. will be 11, Moab and Keehta will peoplle from a program calllled Peoplle To Peoplle; these kiids come Scrappy Dave’s First visit with Maya both be 9, Mack and Moki will be 2, from allll around the Uniited States and have the amaziing at 20 days old opportuniity to travell around Western Canada. Not onlly do we and our babies Scrappy Dave and enjjoy receiiviing these young follks but we allso thiink that iit’’s Flora will be 1!! Oh how time flies! iimportant for them to come llearn about our wollves iin Canada and Flora & Scrappy Dave theiir iimportance iin our enviironment as a keystone speciies. It can Approximately 8 months get a lliittlle chaotiic here wiith these groups,, but that’’s jjust part of the exciitement!

Don’’t forget th at as the weather gets warmer and the days get Hey Kids! Want your artwork published Don t forget that as the weather gets warmer and the days get llonger,, our busiiness hours wiilll be extendiing as wellll.. As of May 1st,, Flora, 9 months in our newsletter?? Keep sending us st we wiillll be opened from 10 am untiill 6 pm. On Jully 1 ,, our summer your wolf drawings! hours wiillll begiin; we wiillll be open from 9 am untiill 7 pm. Wiley, 5 years old Moab, So come and jjoiin us! We are exciited for another fun fiilllled summer! Approximately 10 Scrappy Dave, 9 months months old Did you know…

Insects are essential to... Birds will...

Silent Auction  Pollination Robert Bateman: Water’s Edge – Picture by Gracie  Decomposition &  Spread seeds Wolves nutrient cycle  Do population control for Lundgren Please submit bids to:  [email protected] Food for wildlife insects and small  Population animals/rodents (birds of prey) Bidding will start at $250  control (parasites Are a good indicator of Bids will be accepted from Fun Fact: environmental changes & diseases) Mar 1/13 until June1/13 8o% of animal species  Brighten up our lives with their Proceeds will help fund wolf  Medicine on earth are insects beautiful songs awareness  Scientific research

Mother Nature: What she provides Fresh Water Trees provide… One good print for us

In a healthy state, our environment provides countless  Habitat for hundreds of animals The first time I saw a wolf I was hiking with my friend on crown land out services & resources from medicine to fuel. But for from song birds to insects. behind my house. I live in the Boundary-Similkameen and my home borders Mother Nature to provide these things for us, we must  Drinking water for animals and kilometres of range land. It was sometime in late April or beginning of May. We care for it; even small disturbances can create a cascade humans. saw him, one ridge over from us. At first we thought it was a old burnt stump of changes in our environment because the key to a  Canada exports a large quantity of until he got up and moved away. We watched him lope along the ridge. We healthy ecosystem is biodiversity. water to other countries; so a knew it wasn't a coyote or a bear. Watching it run, we knew it was not a dog source of income as well.  either. It could only be one thing: A Wolf.  Oxygen What we do to Mother Nature We can generate hydroelectricity;  which is also exported. My friend and I had to see the prints to make sure it really was as big as it Habitat Our planet has provided everything that we need to Artwork by looked from where we were standing. Rolling in the snow behind us was my  Shade (for lower local thrive; what have we done to thank her? We are Rayana Pedlar neighbour's 100 lb. St. Bernard/Lab mix, so we brought her with us for print temperatures) extracting everything we can from her to benefit comparison. We used our hands to measure the size of Sasha's paw prints. One  Building materials financially without ever stopping to ask ourselves, how will this affect others and our future generations? Every of Sasha's prints would fit in the palm of my hand. “Individual species and Deforestation year natural disasters happen; this is Mother Nature’s When we got to where we thought we had seen the wolf, we searched for his ecosystems have evolved way of cleansing herself and getting a fresh start. How This is what happens to our paw prints. We found many but only one that was clear enough to get a good over millions of years into many more “fresh starts” do we have left? forests for us to be able to measurement from. The print was not quite as big as my hand, but it was much a complex have all the paper we need Dams are built for hydro-electricity bigger then Sasha's. interdependence. This can (including toilet paper), the but at what cost? Since I've seen that wild wolf, all I want is to see another one. be viewed as being akin to lumber for construction, etc. I have recently read through the British Columbian DRAFT Management Plan a vast jigsaw puzzle of They cause environmental damage to for the Grey Wolf (Canis lupus) and as far as I can tell, it isn't much of a plan at inter-locking pieces. If you But, this causes habitat loss the area, they destroy the habitat and remove enough of the key all. It seems to me, we are still just hunting wolves and calling it a plan. I don't for animals, erosion, and a migration of fish and other animals, pieces on which the believe it’s the wolves that need to be managed; I think it’s the humans. Are lot less CO2 is being turned they fragment this habitat, they can framework is based then into oxygen, and has been wolves really the biggest threat to caribou, deer, or even livestock? I don't think pollute the water, and they change the whole picture may be shown to increase global the natural flow of nutrients and so. in danger of collapsing. temperatures. sediments in the water. Of course, we I can't help but feel like the world is just falling apart and we humans just We have no idea how can use the reservoirs for recreational many key ‘pieces’ we can keep pulling away the supports. I feel that humans are hopeless and are just activities, but those can be a source of making things worse most of the time; especially when it comes to animals. I afford to lose before this pollution as well. might happen, nor even in The earth provides guess I just feel better out in the woods, where nature seems to know what it's many cases, which are the doing.  EVERYTHING! key pieces. The ecological Photo by John E Marriott I have seen one living wolf in my whole life and it was the most amazing arguments for conserving Metals, minerals, oil & gas Highways and railroads are moment I can remember. It was made even sweeter when I read in the biodiversity are therefore Oil, gas & mining Industry fragmenting habitats & killing based on the premise that management plan that wolves are claimed to be absent from my area. I want to Although an important part animals we need to preserve see it again and I often go out hoping to catch another glimpse. I haven't yet of our economy, this industry biodiversity in order to and I may never… especially if we keep on killing wolves here and around the is at the root of many maintain our own life problems regarding our Hunting, trapping, habitat loss, and humans globe to the point of extinction. support systems.” wildlife because of the loss of -Dr Barbara Corker feeding our wildlife has caused problems. Rayana Pedlar habitat. We consume oil, gas Hunting & trapping kills many of our top & minerals products without Rock Creek BC predators which are required to control herbivore even knowing, and at a rate populations (overgrown herds will cause severe Sixteen year old Rayana Pedlar wrote this article for us after we asked her how she felt the DRAFT Wolf that is not sustainable. damage to habitat). Because of habitat loss Management Plan would affect her and her future. Examples of our use for oil: animals are forced into closer proximity with

If we don’t start protecting our wildlife, young people like her may never get the chance to see some of our Adhesives, Carpeting, humans who will often feed them for the majestic animals. The only thing left will be myths, tales and legends of the animals that once roamed our Cosmetics, Fertilizers, Fuel, opportunity to have a “great picture” but a fed

beautiful country Fabrics, Rubber, Paints bear is a dead bear and same goes for all of our wildlife.

TThhee WWoollff SSccaatt

Conservation Updates & News What will be the fate of the Grey Every animal on this planet has Wolves of ? a role; from the smallest Steve Thomson: Minister of Forests, Lands The Battle for the Little Smoky Caribou microorganisms to our top As some of you know, the government of British Columbia released a and Natural Resource Operations Continues predators. DRAFT Wolf Management Plan in November 2012. Although we were - comes from a pioneer/ ranching family able to postpone such a plan from becoming law, the battle is far from - Former executive director of the BC Agriculture Predators (like grizzly bears, mountain For many years, we have been fighting alongside many other organizations to lions, and wolves) provide over; there are many issues that need to be addressed within the Council and developed his career and experience Meet Our Pups! help protect the woodland caribou in the Little Smoky area in Alberta. This year,  Control of the population of herbivores management plan. Initially, they agreed to meet with a wolf advocate working on behalf of BC farmers and ranchers Alberta Energy wants auction new oil and gas leases in the range of the Little committee but to no avail. - served as general manager of the BC Fruit which prevents overgrazing. Smoky woodland caribou herd. This goes against Alberta’s woodland caribou  Carcasses left behind will help feed Growers Association and the BC Milk Producers policy established in 2011 in which they state that their first mandate is to Our “leaders” are likely waiting for this to get out of the public eye scavengers & will be part of the nutrient Association maintain caribou habitat followed closely by habitat restoration. and/or media so that they can release a reviewed copy without people : Minister of Environment cycle of the ground.  Smaller predators will control the paying attention to it, especially with elections coming up. This is the - Served as Parliamentary Secretary for the For the Little Smoky herd to be self-sustaining, they would require for about 65% population of smaller rodents and time that this issue needs to be talked about; after all, we don’t want Ranching Task Force to the Minister of Agriculture of their habitat to be undisturbed. But at this moment, about 95% of their herbivores. the politicians that support the slaughter of our wild wolves to lead our and Lands habitat is disturbed. Having more oil and gas leases in these areas will put this province or our country. Not only are they depriving our future : Minister of Jobs, Tourism and Skills herd at risk of local extinction by taking over the last bit of habitat that remained generations of the wilderness we were blessed with, but they are using Training; Minister Responsible for Labour untouched. valuable resources in an already unstable economy. - served on the Government Caucus Committee In an attempt to control the decline of the woodland caribou population, on Natural Resources and B.C. Task Force on The Wolf Management Plan may not have been officially put in place, Environment & Sustainable Resources Development has been doing wolf culls in Mining but they are already using some of the proposed wolf control methods. the Little Smoky area since 2005 killing well over 650 wolves. Not only are they - Prior to becoming an MLA, Pat owned a trucking This was reflected in the 2012-14 hunting & trapping regulations where using the wolf as a scapegoat, but they have also increased the number of company and co-owned a logging company certain areas have increased their bagging limits and others have hunting permits allocated for the moose in this area to eliminate competition. removed them altogether. They are also using wolf neck snares in : Minister of Community, Sport certain areas to control the population of wolves. and Cultural Development Please join us in the ongoing battle for the woodland caribou! Herbivores (like moose, deer, caribou, - served as Minister of Energy, Mines & Petroleum You can contact: rabbits, etc.) Our best tool to prevent the destruction of our environment is VOTING! Resources & Minister of State for Mining Hon. Ken Hughes- Alberta Energy Minister Hon. Diana McQueen- Minister of Environment  Serve as prey for predators When you vote, it is always a good idea to look at the candidates - served on government committees focused on #404 Legislature Building and Sustainable Resources development  Are a source of food for humans 10800- 97 Ave #204 Legislature Building background to see what they might be in favor of when should they get land use and natural resource issues  Control growth of vegetation elected. Here is a brief background on some of our policy makers (it’s Edmonton, AB T5K 2B6 10800- 97 Ave - owned and operated fly-in wilderness fishing Email: [email protected] Edmonton, AB T5K 2B6 not hard to see why they support wolf control programs): and hunting lodges in the Northwest Territories Email: [email protected] and Manitoba *Please send us a copy of your letters at: [email protected] Example of the wolf neck snares found near Wildlife Photographer Brad Hill’s Will the Wolves of the US Northern Rockies survive the home in the Canal Flats area in BC. slaughter? In 2011 the Northern Rockies Wolf was removed from the Endangered Without predators to control the population Photo by Brad Hill Species Act leaving them to fend for themselves. In 2010, Fish and Wildlife Services estimated the population of wolves in Idaho & Montana to be of ungulates, larger herds can cause habitat 1271. In 2011, these states sold over 62000 tags. Within a year, hunters and loss through overgrazing “All over the earth our need for natural resources to support people and their trappers had eliminated approximately 540 wolves; leaving behind a

technologies has pushed other species to extinction. We take their food, population that is not self-sustaining. The U.S. wolves will need much help from all of our American supporters if they are to survive. Here is a link to a destroy their habitat, pollute and change the chemical and physical balance of petition happening in the U.S. to stop the unjustified killing of wolves. their environment.” http://www.change.org/petitions/stop-the-unjustified-killing-and-hunting-of- Reference: populationmatters.org/issues-solutions/environment/biodiversity/ montana-s-wolves-use- science?utm_campaign=petition_created&utm_medium=email&utm_source=guides