ABRUPT MOOD CHANGE TIME!
I have recently been doing research for a few projects on a newly discovered (2005~ish) subspecies of wolf on my own British Columbian coast.
WARNING: This is a fecking long article written by yours truly, at >500 words. So forewarned, we continue.

There is a subspecies of wolf in BC that is in critical danger. No-one but the Heiltsuk, a band of natives whose territory includes Bella Bella, and few other native groups knew of their existence until recently. They are loosely known as the ‘rainforest wolves’ or ‘fishing wolves’. They are smaller than their relatives elsewhere in the world, and are the most genetically diverse wolf community in the world.
While they do hunt the small black-tailed deer in the deep, old-growth forests of the fragmented coast, 75% of their food supply comes from the sea. Every salmon season, rainforest wolves feast alongside bears and birds on the salmon runs, building up for the much sparser year to come. They have learned to dig for clams and other mollusks, join the hordes to disassemble a beached whale, and pop the heads off of salmon like bears. Many packs have been recorded hunting and eating seals and their pups. A prominent wolf biologist, Chris Darimont has remarked, “…this is our newest marine mammal!”
The only environments that these wolves can only survive and thrive in, are the old growth forests on the various islands that make up the Great Bear Rainforest’s vast archipelago. They have adapted perfectly to these islands, and have remained isolated from their cousins across the Rockies for long enough to become genetically distinct. They have been confirmed many times to be an Evolutionarily Significant Unit (ESU) and therefore should be protected, but clearcutting and hunting continues in their only habitat.
The great bear rainforest stretches from northern Vancouver Island to the Alaskan border, and only the very coastal zones with direct access to the sea are viable areas for the wolf.
These wolves’ already inherently small territory is constantly shrinking, because of extensive logging, and salmon fishing. As more salmon are fished, or runs are blocked by fish farms, fewer salmon are available to the wolves. Luckily, the wolves are in an area relatively unaffected by the fish farming disaster, but the problem of logging is still a large issue.
Another risk is trophy hunting. The Rainforest wolves are especially bold, unafraid of the humans. Their experience with humans for the past hundreds of years has been one of quiet, respectful co-existence. This is unfortunate, because while it provides great photography opportunities, it also makes them easy targets for any hunter with his heart set on a rare wolf pelt. Wolves do not require a big game license to hunt, and there is talk of increasing the bag limit to 12 wolves instead of the current 3.
The rainforest wolves are a golden opportunity to study wolves’ behavior without human influence, because their limited habitat area can be laced with remotely controlled cameras. While it is true they can swim for over 11 kilometers, this is only to expand territory or to get to a beached whale or similar massive food source.
These wolves have been documented as howling in distress when humans cross the waterways that separate harvested areas from untouched ones. Who can blame them, with our track record?
The habitat of these distinct wolves needs to be strenuously protected, to preserve biodiversity, ecology, and a wonderful chance to study wolf behaviour.

“They are like no other wolves. The genetic differences are striking and their ecology is very, very different. It’s so cool,” said Chris Darimont, of the University of California, Santa Cruz, whose University of Victoria doctorate is on wolf populations. (www.raincoast.org)


If you just skipped that whole thing, good on you, at least you tried. This was for a Technical Writing course which I'm taking. Go the the site about for more info on the rainforest wolves.

In other news, I've just kissed a really cute skuntette... She's wonderful and altruistic, and I love her.