Alive and wild

People reminded to not feed the fox population in P.E.I. National Park

Parks Canada is advising visitors and Islanders that feeding foxes and other wildlife in Prince Edward Island National Park is illegal and harmful.

The minimum fine for feeding wildlife in P.E.I. National Park is $275.

Through focusing on communication, compliance and enforcement, Parks Canada is working to ensure wildlife in the park does not become food- conditioned and is asking for support from visitors and neighbours to ensure that wildlife attractants and human food do not get to wildlife.

Parks Canada says feeding foxes, for example, will cause them to become habituated to humans and to rely on humans for food. As a result, they can have trouble finding food and may starve despite the presence of abundant natural food sources.

Foxes that are fed along roadsides are also at a higher risk of being injured or killed by vehicles.

For more information about Parks Canada in P.E.I., call 902672-6350 or visit www.parkscanada.gc.ca/pei.

GUARDIAN FILE PHOTO This red fox is doing what wild foxes are supposed to do - catch their own food. In this Guardian file photo, a fox pounces on a field mouse that it wasted no time in eating once it dug it out from its burrow.