wildlife protection

The Oystercatchers of Gwaii Haanas
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The Oystercatchers of Gwaii Haanas

Hail Brave Hearts

The great wild is calling,  An adventures awaits.  Dutifully we don our apparel for yet another great holiday in Canada.  It’s summertime, and the sun shines gloriously on long days of warmth and outdoor activity. Canoes and kayaks entice us into the waters of lakes and rivers.  The iconic Canadian transportation system, lures us into the paths of our history.  Build your canoes, build your kayaks, follow in the steps of legendary people who navigated the waters this way.

The great wild calls us to develop the skills of history makers who charted the seas, mapped the coastlines and stamped the approval of the ownership of this land.  This is ours.

The great lands of the Haida, tucked away in the northern islands, north of Vancouver Island.  Isolated and rare, a gem of discovery.  This land is our land, protected by a great nation of peoples, the Haida people of Haida Gwaii and the Gwaii Haanas National Park.  It belongs to them and their stories fill the islands.

We arrive by plane, for the trip of a lifetime, into the land of the Haidas.  Remote and alive, the area fills with eagles.  The ocean is calm and the days are warm.  We’ve packed for a week long kayak adventure into Gwaii Haanas.  This area is a paradise of wilderness ocean adventure.

Seagulls meet us, reminding us that God is here.  In the call of the birds, we clearly hear Gods name.  Seals bask on the rocks and a river otter swims past.  An Oyster Catcher stops us.  His antics catch our attention as he jumps around on the rock in a aa unusual dance.  His five chicks huddle close together in the nest and his mate slumber close by.  He is a father and proudly shows off the nest.  A thirteen year old bird, whose making a noise that sounds like Barack.  We name him Barack then, pleased that he’s shown us his fine family

Black Oystercatcher Overview, All About Birds, Cornell Lab of Ornithology

Our luck with the weather holds for this trip.  There are seven of us on this  July excursion, with a guided kayaking and camping company.  The Pacific is mainly calm and peaceful towards us as humpback whales surface and feed in our sights.  One comes close to us.  It’s a pleasure.  The wildlife sightings are superb, with black bear, dolphins, orcas and sea lion to add to our list.  The bird life is unusual to us as well.  Ancient Murrelet,  seagulls, falcons, puffins, rhinoceros beaked birds and red footed pigeon guillemot to add to  our list.  It’s a list of some rare bird and animals  in an area filled with ocean life.

Then, there’s, the people.  We visit the Haida of the ancient totem poles.  to see for ourselves the carvings of great masters and to hear their stories.  A far flung people, out in islands in a remote Pacific location.  An area of impressive beauty molding a nation of seafaring people, who live from the sea.  The builders of ocean going canoes paddling the great seas.  A people of unique culture, surviving in an area of wildlife wealth.  The ocean provides.

This was a dream holiday in our great land.  So much to be proud of, so much to enjoy.  The land and the people, the ocean and the wildlife.  A place of unusual prosperity.

parks.canada.ca › pn-np › bcGwaii Haanas National Park Reserve, National Marine …

The sun shines brightly on Haida Gwaii and the warm summer breeze encourages outdoor adventure.  This was a wonderful, unique  holiday in Canada’s superb wilderness backyard.  We congratulate ourselves for this choice of adventure.    We’ll be back

written by Dr. Louise Hayes

August 27, 2023

Gun Control
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Gun Control

Good Day Brave Heart

It’s seldom a bad day with so much to do.

Exit the warm contentment of the cozy, familiar structure to the bright snow-covered future that awaits you in the outdoors.  It’s a fantasy world of snow laden trees, martins leaping along the way and birds chattering to each other.  What do they say?  Only your own spirits will determine their message.  The sundog shines in a glorious ring around the sun, indicating a weather pattern on its way.  The brightness of this glory world is the psychedelic wonder of yesteryear.  It’s no wonder that they thought that LDS was safe.

Minds bend in the staggering difficulty of the task.    The unfathomable human experiment of the day.

Hunting and trapping, the need to survive, the human is a new predator in this place.  Now the competition for the food supply has increased and new hunters are on the land.  Hunters with families and small mouths to feed.  Tiny tots with growing pains, hunger pangs and shill cries.  Feed us! cloth us! save us! The howls stop when the hut vanishes in the snow and the hunt for animal tracks begin.

This new human brings a new kind of weapon to the wild world of big game hunting.  Gone is the bow and arrow, now it’s the rifle.  Guns.  Guns to protect us, guns to hunt with, guns to be dependent upon.  Guns for survival, guns for livelihood, guns for trade and barter.  Guns.   Only the need for ammunition is a drawback in the use of guns.  Stock the larder with as much provision for the winter as you can, and don’t forget the main one, your gun.

Unlicensed weapons have as many as you want to.  No one is watching.

The stealthy aboriginal makes his way to your shelter.  Maybe you don’t have to hunt today.  Maybe all that you have to do is to trade him a good gun and a round of ammunition for a side of moose, a rack of elk and a hind quarter of deer.  Maybe he will give his own much needed furs, from that rabbit, for a gun.  The indigenous people need the fur more than the fur trader do, but wildlife is plentiful, and trade brings wealth to this family.  Wealth to one, survival to another, a deal is struck.  It seems like a win, win situation.  The stealthy aboriginal so experienced in the ways of this land, looking to improve his own lot in life.  A gun for his hunt, a gun for his prosperity and a gun to protect him from the devil.

The homesteader is saved.  No more psychedelic sunshine.  No more mind-bending winter exposure.  No more lethargic, seemingly drug filled indecisive wanderings.   He is saved.  Saved by the aboriginal bell of necessity.  The gun is more powerful than the bow and arrow.

A shot rings out on the still land.  The skilled new hunter has already conquered.  More will come looking for this kind of trade.  More will seek the European for guns.

Guns for survival, guns to protect us.  Guns.  A new way of life.

The Wild Canadian Year: Canada’s toughest season, with only the hardiest prevailing – Winter – YouTube

Written by Dr. Louise Hayes

 

 

Your Rights
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Your Rights

Hail, you awesome human

Behold!  The great planet presents to you:  The Great Wild!

Superior in every way, the great wild entices you.  Come, almighty human, the championship duel is about to start.  Bring your cameras and your keen vision.  This is a match for skilled, well muscled, genetically superior athletes. This is a match of competitive strength, for unrivaled dominance,  for the preservation of the species.  A match of such superiority, the dueling giants will battle fiercely for the opportunity to mate.

Come with your curiosity, your cameras and your wit.  These fabulous specimens are all business and don’t get in their way.  These are the giants of their species, the largest and the strongest of their beings.  These are the majestic ones and they will fight for their rights.  These are the great males of their kind, moose, elk, deer, sheep, they all rival each other in the fall.  The mating season is well under way and these animals dominate the landscape around them.

Big Horn Sheep Fighting Butting Heads Alberta, Canada

This is survival of the fittest.  The strong will dominate and win their chance to mate.  This is the superiority of the species.  A necessary dual to protect the genetic superiority of the herd.  The wild calls.  The challenge is on.  The dual has started.  The fight for dominance protects these animals.  Their right to mate is an essential one.  It weeds out the week and the inferior and protects the strong and agile ones.  The biggest, the toughest, the strongest and the most agile, these are the specimens that are needed and these are the ones who survive.

Come awesome human.  Slink into the back country with your camera and your wits.  The challenge for survival is on.  Don’t miss it.

Written by Dr. Louise Hayes

October 23, 2016

Just for Us
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Just for Us

Hail, oh Bravehearts

Riches and wealth.  Beauty and majesty.  The great land calls the people and with hope and skills they come.  Oh glorious day, of sunshine and warmth, of bedazzling beauty as the meadows show off their colorful flowers and the trails entice us into the spectacular wonder of the great wild.  This is our life now, to venture and wander, to fill our eyes and souls with the beauty of the Earth.  The powerful planet, the life force of creation.  Awe and wonder, the fabulous views unfold.  Yet another meadow, yet another waterfall, yet another hill to climb, scene to photograph, animal tracks, and animal sightings, more and more of the great wild, more and more of the awesome land.

Our strength in numbers protects us as we pass.  The delight of the wild lands inspires us and keeps us moving. More to see, more to do, so little time and yet so much to gain.  The joy of this great wild place, where the unending view is the beauty of the Earth.  Fabulous planet, with your majestic mountains, the lakes and wildlife, so abundant and thrilling.  Another tumbling, unpolluted river.  Another viewpoint with a sight of endless wonder.  Lovely to behold. Our days journey is a quest for that unspoilt view, the treasure that we long for and the right that we demand for the preservation of this.  No development, no interference, only the trail along the rolling hillside carved by the hand of the great Earth and the creation of this almighty one.

A place to breathe.  Here is the domain of the planet.  A place where those fortunate few travel to explore and to enjoy.  The breath of the Earth is fragrant.  It’s multitudes of flowers wave and nod to us, greeting us with dazzling color and spreading forth blankets of charming, beauty as the variety of color and species lines our path.  This is the world that we care for, the world of the great wild, where the planet’s creations are protected.  This is our  home and we care for it deeply.  Here is where the world is at peace, where we cast aside our worries and wander along the paths of fragrance, color and beauty to a destiny most wonderful.  Again, we are not disappointed.  The breathtaking wonder of this awe inspiring land fills us with joy.  It’s marvelous.

Still that same old view, the view that explorers and adventurers chose to protect.  The view that created a marvelous protected wilderness area.  The view of the brilliant planet as it shows off its dazzling brilliance and welcomes us with awe and wonder.  Here is God’s land, a land for only that creative force.  A land that reminds us of the wonder of nature, the need to protect it.  The bees, busy in their daily routine, the variety of plants seeking their hold in the soil, the outcroppings of rock and the rushing streams.

That same old view, that greeted the wandering spirit so many eons ago, has remained unchanged, just for us.  Just for us, to stretch our legs in the vast eternity of the great planet.  Just for us to share this vision, to keep it for us and to leave it untouched.  Just for us, in our part of heaven, here in the great wild, of our great planet.

written by Dr. Louise Hayes

July 23, 2016

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The Great Good

Good Day, you awesome human

Praises, to you and to yet another wonderful day.

The great planet has intrigued us yet again.  Fishes that look like elephants, white lions, new butterflies, imagination, creativity, brilliance.  Oh to be you, great mother Earth, with all of the gifts of creation.  The milleneums roll past with their constant changes, destruction and war, pestilence and strife, pollution and pesticides, garbage and waste, plunder and greed.  Still the Earth rolls on,with her magnificence and power.  Oh, great awesome one, with skills so immense, it’s unthinkable!  Power and might, life belongs to you.

Praises, fabulous creator, the life blood belongs to you.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/earth/earthpicturegalleries/9753208/New-species-found-walking-catfish-Beelzebub-bat-and-two-legged-lizard.html

Hurling through space to seek your place in the universe.  Tiny by comparison, but with a mission that must be fulfilled.  Life forms on all of your surfaces.  The new, the unusual, something superb.   A new life, the unknown again, awakening our eyes to the new adventure.  So, great human, you’ve been everywhere, done it all, there’s nothing new now.  The oceans explored, space travel accomplished, the pinnacles of mountains reached.  Where to now, for the mind and body of man?  Where now, for the spirit to call us?  All feats accomplished, all stones have been turned.  All quests fulfilled.  The power of the human, so mighty and intelligent.  Technology, engineering, development and creativity.  A unique and special mind, controlling the planet, bending and twisting, changing and developing.  A constant pursuit of knowledge that intrigue and curiosity propels.  What is that?  How does it work?  How do we make that brilliant, special interest our own creation.  How to control the planet and make it’s mysteries our own.

The fabulous planet spins it’s own wonderful web of mystery and intrigue.  Do we know it all?  Have we found and conquered it all?  Rest in peace oh great creator, you are the most blessed.  Times change, the weather hurls it impact at us,  driving blizzards, scorching sun.  The heat is warming the surface and the snow melts from our yards.  Global warming encroaches and trees start to bud.  The awe of creation is still your magic.  Creatures rise and creatures fall. The age of the dinosaur and the age of man.  The unknown belongs to you.  Where will you take us, in the magic ride? New environments?  New creatures to discover?  New landscapes to present themselves and to challenge our bodies and our minds.  As the surface is blasted with war torn madness and the oceans fill with plastics and waste, we scramble to stop the doom of the planet.  Whose doom is it anyway?

The sun rises and sets in regular motion, the moon follows it’s path across the sky, the waves pound and crash as the tides roll in and out.  Regular, like clockwork the natural process continues.  We take it for granted, it’s always been there.   Oh, and praises, human for making a garbage can, somewhere to put the constant refuse.  Garbage dumps and pile high, rotting stench,  another kind of pollution.  So much destruction for the great mother to bear.  All of her children, her marvelous creation, secumbing to the blast of wanton wastefulness and recklessness.

So this is us, the human, so awesome and brilliant.  Will you save us great planet?  Or do you other designs.

Written by Dr. Louise Hayes

March 12, 2016

 

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The Wild Heroes

Hail Bravehearts

Can you hear it?  Can you see them?  The chorus is rising, the melody harmonious, the trumpets are blaring and the song is persistent.  The sound draws our curiosity and the clack and crack of the percussion, fills the fall air.

The song is a challenge, a call to a duel, a call of a champion who dominates the land.  Rushes of fierce aggression, power and might.  The will to be victorious, the need to win.  At the peak  of their health, at the peak of their musculature, at the peak of their minds.  No more the docile and calm, the placid and unassuming.  No more the mild and passive.

Now the days have changed and with it comes the call to fight.  The call of great champions, the days of autumn, when the  songs of battle pierce the air and the trumpets blare their demanding rights.  Come out of hiding, oh mighty foe, the challenge must be met and the fight must commence.

The song is a love song, it calls for a mate.  Bellowing and blaring the dominant voice of a great leader calls to it’s circle of proud supporters, to gather around.  Come close and be protected calls the great voice and the interested, the curious, the dutiful, come forward to be protected and to join in the circle of togetherness.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJd7L2aDHC0  it’s elk mating season

The family gather around to join with their great leader.  His voice echoes throughout the land and he can be heard by his rivals.  Others, his foes with massive girth and muscular strong bodies, come forward to challenge the champion and the duel for supremacy and superiority rights commences.

The bystanders watch with interest as the champions face off.  Their wide weapons, honed to perfection.  The sharpened daggers of bone, the weapons of nature, tines of pointed danger.  The aggressors face off for the duel of their lives.  Courtship and mating is the name and fighting for this privilege  is the game.  Only the strongest, of superior genetics will win this fight for life itself.  The rights to reproduce, to be the grand champion, to be the life force of nature that will sire next years fawns.  A game of immense proportions, of immense importance, for the victor is the wild almighty one, who’s genetics will carry the herd forward into another year of healthy prosperity.  For these ones, their prosperity is their numbers and the grand victor of these matches is the prize of nature.

The grand prize of nature, stands up to be counted and calls his wild call of majesty and triumph.  To a duel!  Out of the forest comes another bold and athletic counterpart to attack with ferocity for the dominance of this season.  To win!  To be the pride of nature’s glory. To be the victor of this remarkable privilege.  The fabulous,  the mighty, the hero of the herd!  It is now.  A time to live and a time to fight.  The season of the great wild champions, is  now!

written by Dr. Louise Hayes

September 2, 2015

Cavell Meadows
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Cavell Meadows

The Meadows have finally opened. It ‘s late for this year, being the second week in July, and we braved the sweltering heat wave at 35 degrees, just for another peek at the outstanding Cavell Meadows.
It’s 8:30 am and already the warmth of the day is upon us.  A few vehicles are already in the parking lot and some early tourists have focused their cameras on a site, way  up the side of the mountain. Way up, only a speck of white, is a lone mountain goat. We view his early morning activity through the borrowed cameras of the tourists. Their good fortune for this photo opportunity is far better than mine, since their equipment will give them that superb, possibly once in a lifetime  shot,  that my cellphone camera can’t manage.

Packing light sometimes has its downfalls and this is one of those times. I’m grateful to the tourists for giving me the opportunity to view the goat through their lenses and to see the wonderful photo that they have been able to take.

We continue on our way.  The runoff from the Angel glacier is streaming in torrents into the lake below.  The heat of the day, already melting the skirt of this Angel, and we wonder how much longer we will be seeing this beautiful sight.  We make our way up into the meadows, so full of colour, it’s a spectacular sight.  Although this is an annual hike, we never tire of the splendor that awaits us in this easily accessible alpine terrain.   The wildflowers are unbelievable.  Heath and arnicas, paintbrush and avens, they stretch on and on and on, with a backdrop of mountains and the beautiful hanging  Angel Glacier.

Our destination, is the climb to the summit of the meadows.  A rough path of scree and a scramble at the top, that make the already steady climb, more challenging at the top. We’ve planned for a seven hour day, with time for photos and a relaxing lunch when we reach the summit.  The steady uphill hike, takes us through outstanding alpine meadow, to the well worn, rocky path above.   Then on to the scramble at the finish which will take most of the morning.  The views become more and more fabulous and the marmots come out to play.  Today, they are not shy.  They don’t hurry away.  Instead, they pose for photos and watch us with curiosity.  We are one of the first visitors to the meadows today, and since it’s so hot, one of the few.

The climb through the rocky scramble is difficult at times, but the finish greets us with an expansive view of the valley on the other side.  We can see the Whirlpool River, Leach Lake and a long stretch of the Athabasca River.  Unfortunately, the haze of wild fires burning in the south, cloud our view, so the landmarks aren’t as distinct as they usually are.  We peer into the valley below.  There are many snow patches, which is a good sign.  Usually caribou inhabit lands like these.  They like the snow patches to cool their bodies on hot days.  No sign of any.  That is, not until a pair of biologists on the grizzly bear study, join us at the top, and the keen eyes of one of them, spots a caribou and her calf in the valley below.  I pull out my binoculars and hand them around for everyone to have a look.  We linger for about twenty minutes, watching these animals, listed as a threatened species,  until  finally she moves out onto the snow patch with her calf, and lays down beside a large rock.

http://www.mountaincaribou.ca/content/recovery-plan

Mission accomplished.  We have the sighting that we wanted, but not the photo. Impressed and satisfied, we make out descent, through the glorious meadow and back to the nearly empty parking lot.

Now on to the next most splendid venture, the lake.

written by Dr. Louise Hayes

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A Day for World Wildlife

Hail brave hearts
Peace amongst you on this day of celebration. A day for the earth to sing its songs of gladness and to fill our hearts with joy.
This is a day for us to take action against the plunder of the environment, against the devastation of habitat loss and against the vanishing land and the precious wild lives that it contains. The earth sings its songs of gladness for all of the lives it creates, for all of the creatures that inhabit this globe and live in the balance of the natural world. A predator, a prey, a tree or a flower, all are victims of habitat loss and environmental destruction. They are victims of pollution, of over development, of starvation and poaching. The wide variety of life forms becomes more and more limited as sensitive species perish from over harvesting, starvation, habitat loss and over development. They call out their names as they vanish into the archives. Lists of animals and plant life, gone forever into the unknown world of perished species.

http://sounds.bl.uk/Environment

Endangered wild life, rare species, animals struggling to survive in a world already so overpopulated with people that the sparse land can house no more.
Dead land, desert, rock, dead lakes, pollution, plastics, fuel, contaminants. Too much for the wild life of the world to bear. No where to find clean water to drink, no where to find fresh grass to eat. Insecticides, pesticides, poison. Contaminated food, contaminated soil, contaminated water. Forest fires, shale, rock and clearing. No where to find shelter, no where to birth this offspring. No where to live.
The sound of the earth mover rumbles in the distance. Run from the machinery of habitat destruction, fire and smoke, it sears our eyes and burns our lungs. The forest is gone, the thickets are cleared, our bellies are swollen from pregnancy, but where to go to birth this calf. What to eat, as the grasses die, where to lie down as there is no shade.
The tiny ones can run no more. Their new legs so awkward, struggle to move. Their tiny hearts and panting breath, they cannot take another step. Their weary bodies, from too much exertion, lie down and rest to sleep some more. Where to find that needed shelter, shrubs and thickets to curl up in. Hours old, the tiny ones can only rest. Run? They can’t run. Hide? Where can they hide. The warm thickets that protect their small bodies die of harvesting and disease and the babies have no where to go.
Tiny offspring, who struggle to survive, your lives are hard enough. The natural balance of predator and prey, fills your lives with fear and hardship. But now, where to birth that new offspring, where to protect that tiny life?
The starving mother lies in stillness as her body consumes that tiny embreo. No food for this offspring, it won’t be born.
One day to celebrate the salvation of the planet. A day for world wildlife and environmental protection. Hear us almighty human, as we raise our voices, for the call of the wild.
written by Dr. Louise Hayes
March 3, 2014

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Barren ground Caribou

Hail brilliant mankind

Cast your eyes upon the wilds of the great land. The wilderness stretches out before you and you are saved. The new land, freshly washed of glacier ice and snow reveals the tundra and the life within. Brave hunters, your lives await you there. Up, way up, above the treeline into the Arctic.
Cast your eyes upon the land and view the newness of the Earth. Your lives await you here, almighty human, the brave explorer, the clever hunter. The wild beasts roam and in your view is the vast herd you’ve been searching for.
Caribou!
Here in the far north is a large migrating herd of caribou. The home of the barren ground caribou as they move across the northern plains of the North West Territories. A way of life for nomadic peoples as they follow the herds for food and clothing. A lifeline, a support, a tradition. Beware, almighty human, the world changes.

Click to access 2011-2015_Barren-ground_Caribou_Management_Strategy.pdf

The barren ground caribou is in decline. It’s once magnificent numbers in the hundreds of thousands of animals is now declining and the great herds are vanishing. A way of life vanishes with them. Gone is the migrating hunter, who’s dependency upon the caribou sustained them in food and clothing. Gone is the sport hunter and with the loss of the wild herds eco- tourism vanishes as well.
Hail bravehearts to the call of the wild.
The exploitation of the far north is a blight upon us. Overharvesting of a national treasure affects our cultural identity. As an environmentalist and a conservationist, the predation of the wild is a long standing concern. Hardship for the people, hardship for the wildlife and loss of culture, a food source, a tourist delight and a way of life.
The sustainability of the land appears consistent. The food source for the animals themselves seems stable. Overhunting is identified as a factor in the rapid decline and the dwindling numbers of caribou are a threat to the sustainability of the wild.
Eager hunters, your bellies are full and hunting of the magnificent wild is no more.
The lands set aside for wildlife habitat is immense in Canada, but still, the plunder increases. The far north, the tundra, uncultivated, unproductive land, whose resource value is low, but for the wildlife that resides there, it sustains them. Specially adapted animals, whose lives have supported the indigenous peoples of northern Canada for centuries. To loose the herds of the wild is to loose our national, cultural identity. The migration of the early peoples, the fur trade, the choice to inhabit the north. The integrity of the wild is essential to us.
Hail mankind. The world is yours, to protect or discard, choose wisely.
written by Dr. Louise Hayes
November 20,2013