Trappers kill swift foxes: Environmentalists want the province to move against part-time trapping
Ed Struzik, Journal Staff Writer
EDMONTON, The Edmonton Journal, Wednesday 22, December 1999
Environmentalists are calling on the provincial government to put an end to part-time trapping that has resulted in the deaths of several endangered swift foxes.
Hundreds of thousands of dollars have been spent in recent years by both the federal and provincial governments in trying to re-introduce the species to southern Alberta and Saskatchewan.
In a letter to environmentalists, Alberta Environment Minister Gary Mar says that while the loss of individual endangered species is a concern, 'data collected over the last five years indicate that the Alberta swift fox population is small, but stable and showing increases in size and distribution.'
Mar says there is insufficient data to determine how many swift foxes are being trapped by individuals who are targeting coyotes, badgers and red foxes.
He is initiating a program to have all resident trappers who buy licences in the Medicine Hat and Foremost districts contacted by local conservation officers, so that past and future accidental captures of swift foxes are documented.
The swift fox disappeared from the Prairies in the 1930s as a result of hunting, trapping, and poisoning campaigns aimed mainly at wolves and coyotes.
The first of several hundred animals were released in 1989 along the Alberta-Saskatchewan border.
No one knows just how well the animals are doing because funding for monitoring and assessment of the species has been scarce since the reintroduction program wound down a few years ago.
Lu Carbyn, past chair of the swift fox recovery team, says the latest data suggests the animals are holding their own.
'The fact is, no one knows for sure,' says biologist Cliff Wallis, past president of the Canadian Nature Federation.
'Mr. Mar's refusal to do anything about this clearly demonstrates that the Alberta government has no commitment to the protection of species at risk.
'When Agriculture Canada officials discovered that this trapping was being done on federal Crown land around Lethbridge, they put an immediate stop to it, he said.
'The province, on the other hand, refuses. This should be an easy decision for them. One can only imagine what will happen when it comes to making tough decisions about endangered species down the road.'
Glen Semenchuk, executive director of the Federation of Alberta Naturalists, says there are probably no more than a dozen trappers who would be affected by the trapping prohibition they are seeking.
'I doubt that any of these people do this full-time,'' he said. 'It's a weekend activity designed to put a bit of spare change in their pockets. It makes no sense to have spent all of that money to re-introduce the species and then allow people to trap them.'
Carbyn says there is insufficient data for him to judge what kind of impact the trapping is having on the swift fox population.
'I can tell you that in the past, we did document some incidental trappings and poisoning of swift fox and determined that the impact was not major.'
Carbyn says there are undoubtedly minor impacts, but he says the situation is a tricky one for Mar.
'The fact is, the success of the swift fox reintroduction program was largely due to the co-operation we got from landowners down in southern Alberta,' he says.
'Anything that would make them angry could be detrimental to future recovery efforts for endangered species.'
It is still unclear what the trappers did with the swift foxes they captured.
Alison Beal, executive director of the Fur Institute of Canada, says there is no legitimate market for an endangered species such as the swift fox.
Edmonton Journalm Reports: [Special Places 2000] [Endangered Species of Western Canada]