Parks Canada bans wildlife photographers from using radio receivers to locate animals

After suspected cases of photographers usingspecialized radio receivers to find collared bears, wolves or elk, Parks Canada has banned possession of the devices withinthree mountain parks in Alberta and British Columbia.

"We've had a few incidents where we've suspected that people, presumably after photos, have been using scanners within their vehicles to locate wildlife," saidBill Hunt, resource conservation manager for the Banff Field Unit.

"We just wanted to put this in place to make sure that people understand that that's considered harassing wildlife and is no longer lawful in those parks."

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Therestrictions apply toBanff,KootenayandYohoNational Parks and are in effect indefinitely.

Violators can be charged under the National Parks Act and the maximum penalty is $25,000.

Known as telemetry receivers, Hunt said the devicesare not the type of thing an ordinarypark visitorwould typically have, as they are specialized tools capable of tracking wildlife that have been fitted with VHF (very high frequency) transmitters on their collars.

The VHF collars are an older technologycompared to more modern GPS unitsbut Hunt said they are still around the necks of numerous animals in the mountain parks.

Photographing wildlife is a popular and legal activity within Canada's nationalparks, provided it's done in a manner that doesn't disturb the animals.

Pursuing an animal to photograph can interfere with its criticalnatural activities, Hunt said,particularly when it comes to wolves,bears and cougars.

"They make a living by being able to successfully hunt or find food," he said.

"If those hunting sequences are interrupted by well-intentioned visitors, that can mean that animal goes without a meal for a day or many days or a week. It's very difficult for them to get those opportunities."

No photographers have beencharged so farthis year with harassing wildlife, Hunt said, but the new restrictions onVHF receiverswill make it easier to lay charges in the future.

"Prior to this restricted activity order, the only charge that was available to our enforcement officers would have been harassing wildlife, which is a very serious offence but to do that, you'd have to prove the connection to the wildlife," he said.

"With this restricted activity order in place, we'd only have to show that they had the telemetry device there for the purpose of pursuing wildlife."

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