Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes Advocate, 1998-12-30, Page 11Exeter Times -Advocate •• • Crosa7Foa Wednesday, December 30, 1998 Page 11 Ailsa Craig's Hank Halliday gets up close and personal with a gray wolf. (photo/Peter McLeod, • London Magazine) Erasing •1 badwolf mentality s Canada Highway in Banff leading -- traffic deaths (including a By Craig Bradford TIMES -ADVOCATE STAFF AILSA CRAIG — There's no such thing as the wolf that ate Little Red Riding I Iood's grandma. - That's the short story behind the message Hank Halliday, 61, has tried to spread through his creation, Wolf Awareness Inc. (WAI). Founded about 10 years ago, WAI is a non-profit, chari- table organization dedicated to the conservation of gray wolves through research and education. Halliday has run WAI for most of -its life out of his home northwest of Ailsa Craig. A retired elementary school educator with a zoology degree from the University of Guelph, Halliday began show'n stu tints the d ff between domestic dogs and wolves while r i erence ing along the Trans -Canada tra to Heritage Minister Sheila gletter writing campaign to rein- troduction programs. Copps) and support of wolf rein- • Halliday and his supporters have done much on behalf of the gray wolf. Halliday is handing over the reins of WAI though he will continue doing school presentations and sit on the WAI board of directors. Though he officially steps down as WAI president tomorrow. Ilalliday is every much as dedicated to secur- ing the gray wolfs future. Ile admits the atmosphere has improved for wolf conservation since he began, but there's lots left to do. "It's just time to let younger people take over." he said. Halliday's plans at he"s awa fr unning the - ""'" "' y om th ence program at London's Westmount Elementsci ary School. Halliday enthralled varying age groups of stu- dents by using his then German shepherd Samauri and a wolf skull s and wolves in one 40 minute workshop. The childrensfasci- nation lead Halliday to conceive a more integrated educa- tional program based on wolves that evolved into WAI. As he developed the program, 1lalliday knew he had to get experience in wolf research to be scientifically accu- rate. He also knew he would need to form a registered charity to get government grants. WAI got its charity status in '87 and was launched with an $8,900 grant from the George Cedric Metcalf Foundation. In '88 Halliday and his wife Valerie started their six e years of volunteer wolf research on John Theberge's Algonquin Park project. During those years Halliday developed the Integrated to .Studies Program on the ecology of the gray wolf which won him the '93 Fred Bartlett Award for "an outstanding p contribution to education in the province of Ontario " WAI r. to show them the difference between d day operations of WAI include writing children's est rito s and freelancing articles to magazines. Much of WAI's operations will be transferred to the western office in Canmore Alberta He's quick to point out those who work for WAI do i free. "No one is getting paid around here," Halliday s "The money actually gets into the hands of the researchers." - But what would lead a London school teache become such a stanch advocate of wolves when soul Ontario hasn't supported a single wild wolf for gen tions? "You want to champion the underdog- and if ther ver been an animal with a bad rap it's the gray wolf," aid. Halliday believes wolves are a truly unique animal, o hat should be protected with better legislated a ugher enforced unting laws and seasons. "Wolves are the most socially complex animals next rimates," he said. "There is no bag limit • world's evils on the animal. Halliday set out to dispel the myths surrounding wolves. He maintains -wolves are not the killing machines of lore. - "That eating (Little Red Ridinghood's) grandmother - thing simply isn't true," Halliday said. While admitting the wolf •conservation. atmosphere has improved since WAI -started, it is still hard to have an impact. "We have trouble translating our passion for wolves into a government will to conserve," Halliday said suni- • ming up his disappointment more isn't done not just to save wolves and their habitat but our entire environment. "People should focus on the environment before it's too late." But the mood towards wolves has lightened consider- ably. - "I think I can generally say people are more sympathet- ic to the plight of the wolf," he said: • - But governments haven't budged. t for I don't think they've gotten any better at all. 1 haven't seen any changes in legislation to protect the wolf or its aid. habitat," Halliday said. wolf Some people are so sympathetic to the cause they want to adopt a wolf— as a pet. Not a good idea, I lalliday said. r to A wolf can't fill the role of our dear domestic dog even south though the origin of the dog can be traced directly back to era- wolves. "The big difference between domestic dogs and the e's gray wolf is in their brains," Halliday said. "People don't he realize the mentality of dogs has changed over 12,000 years. Wolves are xenophobic. You don't want your dog ne being xenophobic. Domestic dogs have become infan- nd tilized. They are socially like a wolf puppy." Since it's the holiday season. Halliday was asked to pro - to vide his wolf wish list. He had only two items. First, he'd: nd like to see the link - no ing of wild places og across Canada to protect wolves ng through their roam- h- ing. He said right now there are only it - "islands of wilder - r ness." n His second wish? -"I would just like 11 to see the wolf get s the same' protection as the bull frog." t ontinued to grow- into a multi -faceted organiza- tion that today has a membership close to 2,000 across Canada. The Follow My Paw Prints Program (PPP) was developed to educate the WAI membership, teachers and students. For $35, a person or a family can sponsor one of six wolves in Banff National Park, Kananaskis Country or Kootenay National Park. PPP members receive a pro- file of their radio -collared wolf a ma f there isn t really a closed. hunting season nfhereeiso s a protection for the most incredible member of the d family on the planet. Even the bull frog has protection." The public's passion for wolves goes both ways: you an old put up posters and calendars featuring the myt images of the wild wolf while western Canadian ranch s damn the creature for slaying and consuming thei velihood and U.S. ranchers cry bloody murder ove ntroduction programs in a few states including one i llowstone National Park. alliday said the perception that wolves have or wi ve a detrimental impact on the ranchers bottom line i that...perception. n 99 per cent of the cases the perception just isn' e," he said. alliday maintains that weather more than anything is major cause of livestock deaths when not linked' to ase and that loss of livestock to wolves is a non -issue. n wolf country, (any livestock losses due to wolves) got to be seen as the price of doing business," he ._ "Some ranchers know it." e deep-set hatred of wolves originated with Canada's Eur settlers who had learned to blame many of the a is er liv updates of its movements written by to its he wolf e and Ye researchers. For many years HallidayeH uarterly ha Ilowlings newsletter out of his home toe tell the gmembers jus about its projects and wolf research news as well as its "I government lobbying efforts. Simple membership in WAI tru without the PPP part costs $15. WAI has evolved from a predominantly educational the vehicle to an organization involved in many facets of gray dise wolf conservation. Its involvements include supporting "I heightening awareness of several research projects has across the country and in the U.S: and making its mem- said hers aware of issues that effect wolves and their habitat. Th Hot issues for WAI in the recent past include subpar fenc- Eu Wolf Awareness Inc. founder Hank Halliday with his own 'wolf',Yoda the German shepherd.