Banff park officials kill wolf after campground raids

A bold female wolf that kept returning for food after getting into garbage at two campgrounds in Banff National Park has been put down by wildlife officials.

Around 8 p.m. Wednesday, she was tracked to the area around C-Level Cirque trail in the Upper Bankhead.

“The wolf was destroyed, it was killed,” said Greg Danchuk, acting superintendent for Banff National Park.

The young wolf, which is a member of the troubled Bow Valley pack, has been involved in several incidents — getting into garbage and even tearing open a bag of firewood — at the Two Jack Main and Two Jack Lakeside campgrounds in the past week.

Danchuk said her aggressive behaviour continued to escalate, leaving no other choice for wildlife officials. The decision was “made with an awful lot of thought and not being the desired outcome,” he said, calling it another sad day for Banff National Park.

Her mother, the alpha female in the pack, was also shot and killed by wildlife officials in June after she had become aggressive with campers at Tunnel Mountain campground.

Both wolves had become “food-conditioned” after getting into food and garbage left at campsites.

Conservationists called it a tragedy, suggesting the park needs a bigger budget to handle the increased education, warnings and enforcement required for a growing number of visitors to the iconic destination.

“Whatever additional efforts (Parks Canada agency) is making, it is not enough,” said Jim Pissot of WildCanada Conservation Alliance in an email.

He noted it’s unprecedented for a wolf pack to “be all but eliminated” by national parks staff, trains and cars due to people’s misbehaviour.

In the past month, wardens with Banff National Park have charged at least 20 campers with leaving their sites in unsatisfactory condition, which included leaving out food or garbage as a wildlife attractant.

Eight of those charges were laid at the Two Jack campgrounds in the past week.

The charge carries a mandatory court appearance, which could lead to a fine up to $25,000.

Officials had also implemented a tenting ban in the two campgrounds, leaving one area in Two Jack Lakeside practically empty Thursday.

Joseph and Barbara Boud, who were visiting from California, had a small hard-sided trailer set up in one of the sites.

“We’re all alone,” said Joseph Boud, noting they’ve been really diligent about putting away their food and garbage after hearing about the wolf from one of the conservation officers.

They had heard the wolf howling at night and were sad to hear it had been killed.

Another group of 13 campers had returned to visit Two Jack Lake for the day after being sent to Marble Canyon campground in Kootenay National Park on Wednesday.