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Blue Jay, Vol.31, Issue 1

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Blue Jay, Vol.31, Issue 1 :>r Coyote, and had an unusual gait. the field there was an unused Badger When it came to the edge of the summer hole in the entrance of which were fallow 150 yards away it stopped and found bones and feathers. The hole ap¬ ooked back, showing a big, round, fat peared to have been enlarged and grass race. It then leaped about 20 feet over had grown into the entrance forming a he summer fallow into the weeds and bed 4 or 5 feet long. Mr. McLean oped off into the brush. It was yellow- stated that this area normally has a high :an in colour, longer and slinkier than a density of deer but that recently they Jeer and when it leaped its long tail had largely deserted the place. ;ould be seen. It was about 6 feet or Nearby, on the George Godomier nore long, 200-250 pounds in weight farm, a cow died of natural causes and md 2 feet high to its shoulder. was left on the side of a field. When it The next morning, Mr. McLean was was examined later, it was found to have cultivating the summer fallow when he had the hide peeled off and the entire igain clearly observed a Cougar. This meat had been eaten in much shorter me was shorter and chunkier than the time than is usually the case. (This is )ther, had a lower belly and was about typical Cougar family feeding sign.) 1 feet, 6 inches long, including its Mrs. Godomier said that in 1971 she ong tail. It kept circling through some was awakened one night by blood¬ all grass and on one occasion stood on curdling screams and thought her dog i knoll and appeared to be watching had been killed. George Godomier ;omething. In the afternoon at the same recalled than an old trapper who lived Mace Mr. McLean saw first one Cougar all his life in this area and who died dtten and then a second about a 100 some 15 years ago, had said that there yards away. He drove his discer at were Cougars living in the area. Tern several times trying to kill them, The above reports, which in my de got very close but was afraid to get opinion are reliable, provide additional Dff the tractor because he didn’t know evidence of the existence of this rare vhat the female Cougar would do. He animal in the province. Others who may vas within a few yards of the kittens on be so fortunate as to sight this species several occasions and had an unin¬ are urged to record and report their ob¬ terrupted view of them. The kittens were servations in detail. larger than a house cat, had long tails and seemed greyish in colour. They went 'White, Thomas. 1967, History of the Cougars in into a slough and then into the bush. In Saskatchewan. Blue Jay 25:84-89. RED FOXES Make a Comeback in Central Alberta After 30 Years BY DICK DEKKER* rangers, farmers, ranchers, trappers and outfitters. It appears that during the past J. Dewey Soper gives the distribution 40 years some significant changes have of the Red Fox as covering all of taken place. From the thirties to the late Alberta except the south-central and sixties, foxes were virtually absent from southeastern region, which was formerly all of central Alberta. Recently, they are the habitat of the Kit Fox.2 Since 1959 I staging a comeback. have made enquiries about the local oc¬ The following are my conclusions currence of Red Foxes in the southern about the regional status of the Red Fox half of the province from numerous during the previous decade. It was: naturalists, park wardens, forest 1. Scarce in Jasper and Banff National Parks. (Soper reported it *3819 - 1 12A Street scarce in the mountains.) March, 1973 43 2. Absent in the foothills west of of 1972 I was guided to four fox dens Calgary, where it was common 30 years which had been used recently. One had earlier. been dug into a haystack on the edge of 3. Absent or scarce in the Edson and a farm yard, another in a ditch along a Whitecourt Forests, where trappers country road, while two others were reported it numerous 30 years earlier. situated in fields well away from cover (A few reports persisted from the Swan and within 100 yards of well-used Hills.) roads. In that area, 50 miles east of Ed¬ 4. Absent or scarce in the parkland monton, lifetime residents were seeing and agricultural areas west and north of their first foxes. Edmonton. By 1972 foxes had spread westward. 5. Absent or scarce from Edmonton They were seen near Elk Point, War¬ east to Saskatchewan and south to the wick, Provost, Lavoy, Mannville and International Boundary, with the excep¬ Tofield. North and west of Edmonton tion of the Milk River area. foxes were recorded from Swan Hills, While cyclic fluctuation is a charac¬ Winnegami, Long Lake and Seiberf teristic of some North American fox Lake. populations, their absence for three or It appears that the new breed of fox id four decades in some areas of former more adaptable than its predecessor. Il abundance in Alberta is a mystery. The seems quite able to cope with human rabies scare and the saturation poison domination of the land. In recent times! campaigns of the early fifties may have foxes have also expanded their range in been a decisive factor locally. Also, southern Saskatchewan and in the competition from Coyotes, which were northwestern United States.1 common in central and southern Alberta during the past 40 years, may In Alberta, one can speculate that the have played a role. Equally puzzling is recent population expansion of the Red, the rather sudden re-appearance of Red Fox is directly related to the emergence Foxes in some of their former range and of over-snow vehicles and their adverse the expansion into new territory, a impact on Coyotes. With a lessening ol phenomenon of the past 5 years. competition from the latter, which were hunted down mercilessly by snowmobile Red Foxes made their first gains in operators, the fox found a place to live the extreme south of the province. From The mis-use of snowmobiles may have the Milk River Valley they extended had a beneficial side effect for me, per their range northward into the irrigated sonally, for on November 18, 1972, one farm lands around Lethbridge and of my fondest wildlife dreams was Taber. In 1968 a pair was reported den¬ realized when I observed a Red Fox foi ning near Balzac, just north of Calgary. the first time here in central Alberta. At least one animal was shot the following winter by someone on a snowmobile. In 1969 and 1970 several foxes fell victim to snowmobilers in the Camrose area, and one was gunned down just 10 miles south of Edmonton, Acknowledgements where another fox became a traffic The following persons provided recent fatality. The previous summer a fox had Alberta Red Fox records: Bill Bilyk, Lud< been seen crossing a field on the Bogaert, Ludwig Carbyn, Peter DeMulder, E southern edge of the city. In the next 2 Good, Loran Goulden, Michael Hampson years no further reports from that Mark Hoffman, Dr. Otto Hohn, Edgar Jones! locality came to my attention. Jasper Keizer, Bill MacKay, Chuck Scott Philip Taylor, Jo Wideman, Wayne Vogtlirl During the same period, foxes were and others. establishing themselves in the eastern parts of Alberta. There were reports from Cold Lake, Bonneyville, Provost 'Rue, L. 1969. The world of the Red Fox. Lippin cott. and Cypress Hills. Several were -'Soper, J. D. 1964. Mammals of Alberta. Queen’ poisoned near Acadia Valley. In August Printer, Edmonton, Alberta. 44 BLUE JA3 .
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