The term 鈥榙irty job鈥� doesn鈥檛 quite do this one justice.
The Pacific Rim National Park Reserve is hoping to transform some of the West Coast鈥檚 least squeamish locals into 鈥榩oop fairies鈥� to help monitor wolves on the West Coast.
Each valiant 鈥榩oop fairy鈥� will be taught tracking techniques as well as to identify wolf scat and differentiate it from other predators鈥� feces as part of the uniquely hands-on citizen science project, according to Todd Windle, a resource management officer with the Park Reserve.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a great way to get outside and learn more about natural history while contributing to coexistence with wolves and a larger understanding collectively,鈥� Windle told the Westerly News. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a pretty cool way to get involved in conservation in your area.鈥�
The Poop Fairy Program is part of the Park Reserve鈥檚 ongoing multi-year Wild About Wolves project designed to increase coexistence and decrease conflicts between humans and wolves both inside and outside the Park Reserve鈥檚 borders.
鈥淲e鈥檙e working across boundaries just like the wolves do,鈥� he said.
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Interested 鈥榩oop fairies鈥� must be able to commit to at least one poo hunt per month for one year and they cautioned volunteers not to expect goldmines each time they search.
鈥淲e鈥檇 probably be lucky for the average volunteer to pick up one or two in a month realistically,鈥� he said. 鈥淥nce you kind of start looking and get a little bit more of a trained eye you can detect them a little bit more obviously, but it鈥檚 not something that鈥檚 going to be a huge volume that鈥檚 for sure.鈥�
He added that anyone familiar with walking a dog, will be pleasantly surprised by what they pick up.
鈥淲ild carnivore scat is actually less smelly and less disgusting than processed dog food for sure,鈥� he said.
Windle said people who sign up will be assigned to areas they already enjoy visiting.
鈥淥bviously there are lots of people that are out and about enjoying the outdoors here whether its on beaches or trails or old logging roads. So, we鈥檙e just asking for a little bit of help from people while they鈥檙e out there,鈥� he said.
鈥淚t would be wonderful to get a nice little group of local volunteers and, I think, for the people that are going to be interested in it, they鈥檙e going to be really interested in it, as weird as that sounds. And then, for other people it鈥檚 clearly going to just not be their cup of tea.鈥�
He said the wolf poop collected will be sent to a lab where it will be mined for a myriad of valuable information like diet, kinship and health.
鈥淵ou can actually get a lot of information from scat,鈥� he said.
He said poop fairies will be trained to use GPS devices to map out where wolf feces are being found and DNA will be compared to find out how wolves within packs are related to each other as well as neighbouring packs.
Learning individual diets will also help researchers understand whether different packs are focusing on different prey species while also gaining a better understanding of what wolves are hunting for at different times of year.
That could help the Park Reserve focus its management on areas where wolves are likely to be finding those prey species to better help humans avoid them.
Poo collectors will also be asked to leave some remains of the feces behind, because wolves are communicating with scent marking.
鈥淲e don鈥檛 want to completely remove the whole sample because it鈥檚 also how they鈥檙e communicating with each other.鈥�
Wolves were biologically extricated from Vancouver Island in the 1960鈥檚 with occasional sightings being reported once every few years through the 1970鈥檚 and 1980鈥檚.
鈥淏asically 21 years ago now, they kind of showed up and started establishing packs and territories again,鈥� Windle explained. 鈥淎s that鈥檚 happened, so has an increase in conflicts between people and wolves.鈥�
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He said improving the West Coast鈥檚 ability to coexist with its wolf population is vital because wolves are a keystone species that heavily impact their environment and added that the Park Reserve is mandated to protect the area鈥檚 ecological integrity and biodiversity.
鈥淭hey鈥檙e also a really important species spiritually and culturally to the Nuu-chah-nulth Nations that we share the land with,鈥� he said.
Anyone interested in becoming a poop fairy is encouraged to contact Windle at 250-726-7165 ext. 227 or Todd.Windle@canada.ca.
andrew.bailey@westerlynews.ca
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