Just so nobody thinks it was all high drama in the Tonquin, there were some nice views :-)

Update Oct. 30: JNP biologists located the caribou by helicopter on Oct. 22 but, as of today and after about 8-hours? of helicopter time and a great deal of frustration, they have been unable to capture it. The animal appears to be running and eating fine with the cables still tangled in it's antlers. The strategy now is to wait for the antlers to fall off, which for caribou generally occurs in Nov/Dec. Let's wish him luck!

Wow. Quite the story and quite the human effort. Right on.

Poor thing,I hope his antlers fall off soon!

Then he no longer will be attractive to the ladies.

K

Parks Canada has developed a new backcountry sign that will go out this spring:

We were once again passing through the Surprise Point campground last week, enjoying the incredible solitude. We did not spot any caribou but couldn't resist visiting the "snare" poles to check the updated signage.

Very gratifying to see that all were properly secured. Someone, I hope a camper, used a bit of cord to secure one cable that did not reach the eyebolt!

The closely cropped photo of our caribou does not really show how terribly entangled it became so I worry that it provides little deterrent.

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Before I read the rest and it said that the caribou had "hanged itself" I had the coldest look on my face and my heart sank for a moment there before reading the rest. I love animals so much

Hard for us to forget this image too...

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Saw this video today and reminded me of this thread:
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=df6_1389799835

Good reminder to make sure you tie up the food cache cables to prevent other animals from being snared.

Thanks for sharing. Watching this really took me back to the incident, very similar behavior of the animal for sure.

Seems the message just isn't getting across. All of the campsites we visited last week in Banff NP (Lost Horse, Egypt Lake, Shadow Lake, Twin Lakes) had food cables unsecured

On the plus side, the larches were fantastic and provided a great foreground to views of the Big Ass...

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Although the idea was dismissed by Parks early on, we found during a visit to Surprise Point campground last week that the snare poles had been replaced with storage bins. No so for nearby Clitheroe campground though. I'm also pleased to note that there was no abandoned garbage in the bins, which was the primary reason for not using them.

On the topic of wildlife, we were thrilled to spot a grizzly sow in Eremite Valley, and heard of another grizzly sighting along the Astoria River below Chrome Lake.

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I think the lockers are a great idea. I've seen them used in other places with great success. Yes, in some places people do leave their garbage behind, but it's minimal even on very busy trails like Berg Lake that is often used by inexperienced backpackers. What I do like...

1. Yes, they're safer for wildlife.

2. They are USED - people don't find missing snap links and don't need to bring a carabiner.

3. People are also more likely to use them as they are less worried about their food getting wet.

4. They're just overall easier to use, meaning people tend to use them more.

Indeed food lockers are much nicer than cables, and they work very well in places that are patrolled regularly such as Berg Lake and Maligne Lake. Let's hope that users keep them clean at Surprise Point, as that CG is currently not patrolled as regularly. Hopefully new stickers with reminders on all lockers (coming this summer) will help. A few more campgrounds in Jasper now have food lockers too: Athabasca Island (excellent for coolers that folks bring by canoe) and Hidden Cove. More may follow if they are successful.