CANADIAN NATURE FEDERATION NEWS RELEASE 
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
     The following news release is from Greg Sheehy of the Canadian Nature Federation. 
     
    
   
   
    
     October 16, 1984. 
     
    
   
   
    
     The Canadian Nature Federation, which represents 150,000 Canadian naturalists, 
     
    

    
     has called on the government of Quebec to carry out an independent public review 
     
    

    
     of the recent drowning of some 10,000 caribou in the Caniapiscau and Koksoak rivers. 
     
     Because the drownings occurred in a drainage system affected by water control 
     
     structures operated by Hydro Quebec, the Natrue Federation stresses the need to 
     
    

    
     _ determine whether the utility is responsible for the loss of the caribou. 
     
    

    
     In an October 16 letter to Quebec Environment Minister Adrien Ouellette, the 
     
     Federation stated that "the significance of the loss of wildlife and the 
     
     possibility that it could have been avoided make it essentail that an independent 
     
     body conduct a public review of the disaster“. 
     
    

    
     The caribou were carried to their deaths by flood waters during a period of 
     
     heavy rain at the end of September. The animals, which were part of the 400,000 
     
     strong George River herd, were making a crossing in the annual migration to 
     
     their winter feeding grounds. 
     
    

    
     As part of the massive James Bay hydroelectric development, Hydro Quebec. 
     
    

    
     Imaintains a dam and diversion system several hundred kilometres upstream from the 
     
     crossing site. . 
     
    

    
     Greg Sheehy, a spokesman for the Nature Federation, stated that"we certainly 
     
     believe that Hydro Quebec should be considered innocent unless proven guilty,_but 
     
     the facts must come out so that, if at all possible, such a tragedy can be avoided 
     
     in the future" - . 
     
    
   
   
    
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     IN THE NEWS 
     
    
   
   
    
     Ornithologist William Gunn, who has probably recorded more bird sounds than 
     
     any other Canadian, died in October at the age of 71. 
     
    

    
     Until WWll, Dr. Gunn was involved in public relations and accounting.When he 
     
     enlisted in the army, he was assigned to the ordnance corps. and in 1945, 
     
     he was sent to the Arctic on Exercise Muskox- a research pperation— where 
     
     he represented the Canadian Wildlife Service. After his discharge from the army 
     
     in 1946, he started researching the relationship between bird migrations and 
     
     weather systems , earning his PhD from U. of Toronto in 1951. 
     
    

    
     He was the first executive director of the Federation of Ontario Naturalists 
     
     (in 1952) and was called upon to advise the designers of the CN Tower to 
     
     help reduce the hazard to migratory birds: also to help reduce collisions 
     
     between birds and Canadian aircraft. His work will be missed by many. 
     
    
   
   
    
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