ROB: I’ve been taking keen interest in this new campaign – Keep Wildlife Alive. This is a joint effort by the Town of Banff and the Town of Canmore to have combined messaging and a unified voice around human-wildlife coexistence.

TANYA: It’s really kind of in your face. There’s the bright, bold yellow colors, and the messaging is really trying to get it across to people there are dangers to some of these behaviours. Living in the Bow Valley means we have to be responsible stewards, and that means some things are different. You don’t just get to take your dog out off-leash. Oh, he’s great, he’s well-trained he’s…it doesn’t matter. It’s puts wildlife at risk.

ROB: The Town of Banff has already on board with handing out dog leashes to people who are both compliant on leash or those who might’ve forgotten them. That’s one small part of this whole Keep Wildlife Alive campaign. I believe this is all coming out of the Human-Wildlife Coexistence Report, which came itself out of the death and story of Bear 148, an issue that was problematic because of the multi-jurisdictional approach. People weren’t talking to each other. Things were done differently in the National Park versus within Alberta Parks and the Town of Canmore. The fact that the towns of Banff and Canmore are working together on this, I see it as maybe trying to break down some of those jurisdictional barriers that we’ve encountered before when it comes to human wildlife coexistence.

TANYA: This is really essential to our future. When we work in silos as government agencies and communities, when wildlife don’t actually realize they’ve just stepped out of a national park and into a provincial park and now the rules have changed, it’s incumbent upon us to work together to overcome these barriers and to make it simple in terms of messaging and in terms of reporting. If you’re in Banff and you want to report a wildlife situation, you have to call one number and in Canmore you have to call an entirely different number.

ROB: In fact, it’s right on the top of that website – report carnivores and aggressive wildlife in Banff – 403-762-1470, in Canmore – 403-591-7755. I realized this is a jurisdictional thing. There’s Parks Canada and there’s Alberta Parks. It would really be amazing if they could figure out a way to make one unified wildlife reporting number.

TANYA: Your first prompt is – are you in Canmore? Press one. Are you in Banff? Press two. This is not something that’s impossible. We could do this.

ROB: Or the fact that they’re phone numbers in an era where people like to use apps or messengers on their phones. Is there a way we could set up some sort of digital technology to make reporting this a lot more straightforward, rather than having to call a phone number, which in 2021 seems a little archaic?

TANYA: It wouldn’t just benefit residents, it’s something that could benefit visitors.

Filed under: Banff, Bear 148, Canmore, Mountain Insider, Wildlife