Re: “Discovery Island wolf scare human-caused,” letter, Sept. 21.
A little more than a week ago, I was paddling with a small group along the shore of Discovery Island. One of our party whispered with excitement: “I see the wolf.”
We all stopped and sat in our boats for about five minutes, watching and listening to the wolf who was in the woods on shore howling away. It gave us a real concert. With the wolf still talking to us, we paddled off.
Over the past 11 years, I have circumnavigated Discovery Island more than 200 times, mostly alone, but often with others, yet this was the first time I had seen or heard the wolf. It was a deeply moving experience.
While I fully support efforts to give the wolf his space and keep him wild, it’s an overreaction on the part of park authorities to close the area to those of us who walk and paddle with respect and appreciation for our fellow beings.
Contrast this action with the desire of government and industry to build new pipelines and run more tankers through the neighbourhoods inhabited by our beloved orcas, humpbacks and related marine life.
Where then is their consideration of the precautionary principle?
Ron Spector
Victoria
