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WILDLIFE IN DANGER

This is the fourth article in a series on endangered wildlife in Canada, based on information by the Canadian Wildlife Federation.

NORTHERN ROCKY MOUNTAIN WOLF (Canis lunus irremotus)

A large, light—coloured subspecies, this wolf formerly occurred in the forests and foothills of the Rocky Mountains in southern Alberta, south— eastern British Columbia, south to Western Wyoming. It is thought that a few individuals belonging to this subspecies still exist in the mountains of southwestern Alberta and southeastern British Columbia. Its

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end of the 19th, sea otters were ruthlessly exploited for their commercially valuable pelts. Sea otters were extirpated from

‘ . . British Columbia waters by 1929, NORTHERN KIT FOX (Vulpes velox neoes) and it was not until 1971 that a Typically found in arid short-grass plains and breeding population of otters from shrubby deserts, the diminutive northern kit Amchitka Island was transplanted to fox is recognizable by its big ears, grizzled . the northwest coast of Vancouver grey back and creamy, buff flanks. It form- Island. A small nucleus from this erly occurred in southwestern Saskatchewan, transplant survives today.

southern Alberta, southwestern British Colum- bia and south to several mid—western states. The kit fox is now considered endangered and possibly extinct in Canada, although it is hoped that a few individuals remain in the Cypress Hills of southwestern Saskatchewan. Habitat loss and indiscriminate predator cont- rol programs contributed to its decline.