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Archive for category: Wildlife Blog

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News, Wildlife Blog

Gribbell Island Needs to be Protected

GRIBBELL ISLAND – MOTHER ISLAND OF THE WHITE SPIRIT BEAR – NEEDS TO BE PROTECTED

Small but rugged Gribbell Island (20,690 ha) sits astride two of BC’s central coast marine shipping lanes, the Inside Passage and Douglas Channel. A UBC genetics study headed by Dr. Kermit Ritland discovered that the island is evolutionarily significant as over 40% of its small isolated population of 100-150 Kermode bears, a subspecies of the North American black bear, are white. This represents Canada’s Galapagos. Evolutionary biologists believe that the gene for the white coat evolved on Gribbell and they call it the “mother island of the white bears”. A 2012 VWS cumulative effects study by Wayne McCrory showed that past over hunting and trapping and collection of white hides for museums combined with clearcut logging and declining salmon runs may be putting this unique bear gene pool on the edge. Climate change also will have an impact. The island needs to be protected by the province and the Gitga’at First Nation as a conservancy or park.

Gribbell Island - photo by Ian McAllister

The VWS spirit bear project is supported by the Winton Foundation for the Welfare of Bears. See the spirit bear in their June Newsletter: wintonbearfoundation.org
Learn more about Dr. Ritland’s exciting spirit bear genetic studies: genetics.forestry.ubc.ca/Ritland
Article in Evolution (Volume 66. Issue 2) on population genetics of spirit bear: onlinelibrary.wiley.com › Evolution › Evolutionary Biology › Evolution

Download the reports SPIRIT BEARS UNDER SIEGE:
The Case for the Protection of Gribbell Island (58 pages)
Link to Vancouver Sun article

October 1, 2012/by Valhalla Wilderness Society
https://www.vws.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/Gribbell-Island-IanMc_sml.jpg 394 600 Valhalla Wilderness Society https://www.vws.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/logo-4-1.png Valhalla Wilderness Society2012-10-01 12:49:332020-02-05 12:37:59Gribbell Island Needs to be Protected
News, Wildlife Blog

Wolves and Wild Horses, Secrets of the Brittany Triangle

A New Project Initiative for the Valhalla Wilderness Society
Wolves and Wild Horses, Secrets of the Brittany Triangle

wolf_landscape_sm

The Valhalla Wilderness Society  has teamed up with Friends of the Nemaiah Valley (FONV) and the Xeni Gwet’in community of the Tsilhqot’in First Nation to foster research surrounding the dietary habits of grey wolves, Canis lupus. The project area is in the unique wild horse region of BC’s Chilcotin in and around the Brittany Triangle and the Nemaiah Valley. The groups are sponsoring graduate-level research by wolf biologist Sadie Parr to fill an important knowledge gap about predator-prey interactions among wolves, wild horses and domestic livestock.  This knowledge will help us in our efforts to foster coexistence among wolves and people as we combine science with community-level outreach goals.  Sadie has prepared a Rancher’s Toolkit for predator friendly practices.

Download VWS newsletter on Sadie’s Wolf Study

Download Toolkit for Predator Friendly Practices: www.wolfawarenessinc.org

August 30, 2011/by Valhalla Wilderness Society
https://www.vws.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/wolf-predator-european-wolf-carnivores-162110.jpeg 1253 1880 Valhalla Wilderness Society https://www.vws.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/logo-4-1.png Valhalla Wilderness Society2011-08-30 13:03:232020-02-05 12:37:59Wolves and Wild Horses, Secrets of the Brittany Triangle
News, Wildlife Blog

DNA Study on Bc-Brittany Triangle Wild Horses Challenges History

A soon to be released study of the genetics of wild horses in a remote corner of the province poses more questions than it answers. The study by world horse DNA expert Dr. Cothran and biologist Wayne McCrory was done at the Texas A & M University for VWS, FONV (Friends of Nemaiah Valley) and the Xeni First Nations. It is the first of its kind in western Canada. The Brittany Triangle is the remotest area left in western Canada where some 200 wild horses have roamed since before the coming of Europeans. The DNA study area is part of the Eagle Lake Henry Cayuse wild horse reserve created by the Xeni Gwet’in First Nations – the only wild horse preserve in western Canada. DNA was analyzed from blood samples taken from domestic horses captured in the wild as well as from hair samples collected from tree branches and bedding areas. Historic documentation indicates that Brittany horses most likely originated from horses of Spanish ancestry brought in to the area by Tsilhqot’in First Nations about 1740 along ancient trade routes from Plateau grasslands to the south. However, the DNA study found very little remaining Spanish ancestry. The origins were more from the Canadian Heritage Horse breed or its ancestors. The most intriguing result of the genetic study is the possibility that Yakut horses, an ancient horse of Russian heritage, also contributed to the origins of the herd. How these bloodlines got to the remote Chilcotin is a mystery since the Russians only ever brought a small number of horses across to their Pacific coast fur trading posts. The report will be released in several months.horse_genetics_sml

Download Map of Chilcotin Wild Horses

December 17, 2010/by Valhalla Wilderness Society
https://www.vws.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/pexels-photo-2674905.jpeg 1249 1880 Valhalla Wilderness Society https://www.vws.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/logo-4-1.png Valhalla Wilderness Society2010-12-17 13:05:452020-02-05 12:37:59DNA Study on Bc-Brittany Triangle Wild Horses Challenges History
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