2017 Fall Newsletter

Quarterly Publication of the Yukon Wildlife Preserve Operating Society
Volume 12, Issue 2
Fall 2017
In this Issue...
2 From the ED
3 A Community that
Keeps Giving
4 What is it Like?
6 A Wildwise Fall
7 Greetings from
the YWP Board
8 Back Page
Fall
Edition

Summer Greetings from the
Wildlife Preserve
In addition to being our busy tourism season, spring,
summer and fall are when we tackle most of our
improvement and development projects at the Wildlife
Preserve.
As some of you may have noticed, we are working
on some improvements to our visitor reception area
with new decking now in place. Next to come is the
installation of two new, fully accessible outhouses and
a connecting board walk. In mid-September we will
be resurfacing all of our picnic tables and completing
a landscaping project which will see the addition of
some grassy berms, planting of indigenous plants and
the transplanting of mature trees from around the
Preserve
Other behind-the-scene projects that we are presently
undertaking include:
• Completion of all new fencing for the large back
cliff mountain goat habitat;
• Updating from SECOR to COR level health &
safety certification;
• The building of a new 3,000 sq. ft. hay storage
facility;
• The removal of the old hay shed and the moving of
our large gas tanks away from public view;
• The building and installation of a new composting
system;
• The instalment of a new extra-large door at our
garage which will allow us to store our tour bus
and large loader overnight in a heated environment
during the cold winter months;
• Sourcing of funding and the selection of
a contracting consortium to undertake a
comprehensive ten-year Master Plan for the whole
Preserve; and
• In October, Highways & Public Works will be
refurbishing all of our roads.
To say that things are busy around the Preserve would
be an understatement. The best part of all of this
hard work, is that the months of June and July were
the busiest months since YWP opened to the public
thirteen years ago!
Thank you to all of our valued members, Yukon
residents and our visitors. None of this would be
possible without your ongoing support.
Cover photos, clockwise from top left: Lynx on the prowl,
well camoflauged this time of year! Caribou groups have been
seperated for the fall rut. The younger bull and females can
be found in the left side pasture approaching the back cliff;
Mountain goats amongst changing colours; Late birth - July born
calf has yet to change to its darker coat.
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Volume 12, Issue 2

A Community That Keeps Giving
We always knew our non-profit charitable organzation was amongst a strong, supportive community. We would
not be here without our generous and caring community members and organizations. This summer was the
busiest on record and was marked by several grand
gestures.
We would like to take this time to recognize some
important supporters of the Yukon Wildlife Preserve.
Wildlife Saving Club - $71. 70
Canyon Simanis & Hailey Steinhagen
Raising funds for wildlife
rehabilitation at YWP.
Steven Smyth - $5,000. 00
Donation in memory of his father
Ron Smyth
6 th Annual Run Wild 2017 - $875. 00
Supporters helped raised money for wildlife rehabilitation, running for a cause!
Fall 2017
Top Right: Canyon and Hailey pose with their first Wildlife Saving Club advocacy
poster (photo: CBC Phillipe Morin); Bottom: Annual Run Wild held on Discovery
Day, racers are ready at the start line! (Photo: Erik Pinkerton).
3

What is it Like?
When working with animals, one of the most
important things we can do for ourselves and
our coworkers is communicate clearly. If you are
asking a bird to fly to a certain perch without any
success, a trainer needs
to assess whether he or
she communicated the
ask effectively. It is hard
to determine this unless
one becomes practiced in
empathy. At the American
Bald Eagle Foundation, we
are always trying to see things
from the perspective of the
birds. This can be a more
difficult task than it sounds.
One of the tools we use to
guide interns is a paper
written by American
philosopher Thomas Nagle
called What is it like to be
a bat? In this paper, Nagle
argues that an organism has
conscious thought “if and
only if there is something that
it is like to be that organism.”
Put simply, it is impossible
to know what it is like to be
a bat, but we know there is
something that it is like. Nagle chooses a bat because
although they are mammals, their experience is
radically different from humans. We will never know
what it is like to fly or echolocate, but guided by Nagle,
we can respect that a bat has those experiences.
Birds can be even more alien to us than bats. They have
feathers instead of fur. Their eyes see colors and detail
we can’t imagine. They lay eggs, they don’t have hands,
the list goes on. Learning to empathize with these
experiences makes us think outside of our own to look
at a situation as it might seem to a bird. This allows us
to identify a potential miscommunication and correct.
Empathy can also be a demonstrative teaching tool. We
love to guide guests through what life might look like
through the eyes of a bird. By beginning to understand
what life is like for a bird, many also consider the
differences between individual experiences and
recognize that each bird (deer, wolf, human, etc.)
has a unique history and experience which drives
Above: A bald eagle prepares to fly to a perch when her trainer gives
her a clear cue.
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Volume 12, Issue 2

the decisions they make. In
other words, they have distinct
personalities.
The ability to recognize and
respect different experiences and
personalities is vital to successful
animal training. It also allows us
to effectively reach guests with
our educational programming
and to have more collaborative
interactions with them.
It all starts with one question:
what is it like?
Above: Museum Coordinator Katelyn Dickerson costumes
a guest to imitate the raptor experience.
Sidney Campbell is the Education
and Outreach Coordinator at the
American Bald Eagle Foundation
in Haines, Alaska. She works to
bring empowering wildlife education
to Haines and surrounding
communities by managing outreach,
publications, and educational programming. She works with the Raptor Program
Manager to train the avian ambassadors at the facility to take part in education and outreach.
Visit the American Bald Eagle Foundation in Haines, Alaska. The facility is currently open
Monday to Friday’s 9am - 5pm and Saturday`s 12pm-4pm.
Fall 2017
Above: The Preserve’s resident bald eagle now shares his home with
a common raven. The raven came into the Preserve’s rehabilitation
centre with a fractured humurs in July, it cannot fly. The two are
often seen interacting. Come check out these iconic birds on your
next visit!
5

When Bear Viewing is Negative
WildWise has had a busy summer!
Our programs took us door to door
in rural and urban Whitehorse
subdivisions as well as to
Carmacks. We talked with people
about attractant management and
collected data to better understand
why there is still a problem with
bears accessing human attractants
such as garbage, bird feeders and
chicken coops. We found that it is
easy to engage with people about
bears but that people are less
willing to change their behavior
to reduce human-bear conflict.
The alternative to depending on
education to fix the problem is to
lean more heavily on policy and
enforcement tools which, in turn,
may affect human behavior. This
has been one of the highest bear
kill years on record at Conservation
Officer Services. The only way to fix
the problem is for people to change
what they are doing, either by
choice or by force.
Perhaps our most talked about
program this summer is our
Skagway Road initiative which
aims to reduce food conditioning
along this well-traveled corridor.
We responded to concerns from
residents in this area, the Carcross/
Tagish First Nation, Environment
Yukon and Parks Canada by
conducting research along the
Skagway Road and
encouraging people
not to use highway
shoulders for bear
viewing and not to
feed the bears. This is
our most controversial
campaign to date and
we are busy compiling
the data this month.
We look forward to
finding out what it
says and to engaging
with the public and
stakeholders over the
winter to find out what
we should do next to
keep bears and humans safe in this
sensitive area.
One last note. Fall is approaching,
gardens are being harvested and
livestock is being slaughtered. Bears
are focused on consuming as many
calories as possible. Please be safe
this season. Use electric fencing
around your attractants, make
sure your properties are free from
available attractants and let the
bears pass through without trouble.
Heather Ashthron is the Executive
Director of Wildwise Yukon. For
more information about this and
other iniatives to reducing humanwildlife
conflict visit www.wildwise.
ca or give us a call at 335-5212. We
would be happy to hear from you!
6
Bottom Left:.The new road sign as a part of the Skagway Road Initiative Top
Right: Example of electric fencing in place mitigating conflict in order to protect
livestock and of course, bears.
Volume 12, Issue 2

Greetings from the Board
Another summer is drawing
to a close, the air is crisp with
the hint of wood smoke, and
the first frost has graced our
yards… elk are bugling and
the moose will be calling
soon…. And that means
the Yukon Wildlife Preserve
Operating Society Board of
Directors is getting their heads
back into business for the
winter!
I wanted to take this
opportunity to thank our
fabulous group of volunteer
Directors who tirelessly
work to ensure the Preserve
continues to meet its Mission
and Vision and strategic
direction. Tasked with
determining and promoting
the Preserve’s mandate, the
board of directors also engages
in active strategic planning
to achieve those goals. This
function is crucial, and to
meet this mandate, we have a
dynamite group of volunteers
with a variety of backgrounds,
from wildlife biology to
accounting, business to zoo
operations, planning to
tourism.
If you were not able to join
us at our Annual General
Meeting in July, but would like
to get involved, please do not
hesitate to get in touch with us
directly. We are always open
to energetic, dedicated, and
engaged volunteers to join our
Board or the Committees. If
you have an interest in animal
care, fundraising, finance, or
communications, to name
a few specific areas, please
consider joining us!
As many of you already
are aware, we are entering
into our next Master Plan
process, which will result in
both short- and long-term
projects, specific direction for
the various departments, and
all things going as planned,
financial security to ensure the
Preserve remains the integral
part of the Yukon tourism
and natural environment
destination that it is today.
On behalf of the staff and
Board of Directors, we thank
you for your ongoing support
and look forward to seeing
you soon!
Cheers,
Alexandra Tait (de Jong
Westman)
President, Yukon Wildlife
Preserve Operating Society
Full-time Staff
Yukon
Wildlife
Preserve
Greg Meredith, Executive Director
Randy Hallock, Director of Outdoor
Operations
Dr. Maria Hallock, Wildlife
Veterinarian and Curator
Jake Paleczny, Director of
Programming & Education
Lindsay Caskenette, Manager of
Visitor Services
Board of Directors
Alexandra Tait President
Shawna Warshawski, 1 st Vice-
President
Michael Kokiw, 2 nd Vice-President,
Kristine Hildebrand, Treasurer
Jessie Dawson
Chris Evans
Katelyn Friendship
Kirk Cameron
Brooke Rudolph
Shirley Adamson
Ed van Randen Non-voting Member
- Environment Yukon
Darrell March, Non-voting Member -
Environment Yukon
Fall 2017
7

Above: Moosin’ around!
Gettin’ Our Rut On. . .
This is the season where ungulates battle for love.
Watch for our antler and horn-bearing species compete
with one another for rights to females! Typically there
is a dominant male that breeds with the females. On
your next visit to the
Preserve, you may
notice seperated male
and female species
groups. We intentially
seperate genders for
particular species as a
form of birth control.
This is an effort to help
ensure the carrying
capacities in each habitat
is not exceeded by the
number of individuals
and our quality of care
is not compromised
becuase of the quanity
of animals. This also
allows us to maintain a
good diversity of age and
genetics.
Writing: Lindsay Caskenette, Greg Meredith,
8
Sidney Campbell, Jake Paleczny, Heather Ashthorn, Alexandra
Tait.
Photos and illustrations: Lindsay Caskenette, Jake Paleczny, Erik
Pinkerton, Phillipe Morin CBC .
When to Visit
Summer Hours
9:30am to 6:00pm: Daily until October 9 th
Guided Bus Tours at 10am, 12pm, 2pm & 4pm.
Walk, run, bike anytime while open. Enjoy a safe,
relaxed environment for the whole family!
Winter hours Friday to Sunday’s start October
10 th 10:30am to 4:00pm.
Guided Bus tours at 12pm, & 2pm
Curious about the latest news? Visit
facebook.com/yukonwildlife or call 456-7300.
We’re Social - join us on Instragram!
Share your adventures with us through Social
Media and we`ll re-share our favs!
Tag us #YukonWildlife
Printed on 100% Recycled Volume Paper 12, Issue 2