야생동물 천국

야생동물을 대하는 재미에 푹 빠져 있습니다. 지난 봄에는 집 근처에서 늑대와 눈이 마주친 적이 있습니다. 그것도 두 번씩이나요. 새벽에는 늑대의 울음도 들었지요. 야릇한 전율을 느꼈습니다. 어릴 적 추운 겨울 밤 들었던 늑대 울음을 기억하게도 했습니다.

밤 늦은 시간 집으로 오던 중에 도로를 가로지르는 여우를 보기도 하였습니다. 무척 빠르게 지나가 차에 부딪히지 않은 게 다행이었지요. 환한 대낮에 잘 생긴 여우를 만나기도 했습니다. 한적한 주택가에서 물끄러미 바라보던 여우를 만났습니다. 비교적 먹이를 구하기가 수월한 때라 그런지 포동포동 살이 오르고 털이 매끈하여 귀엽기만 하였지요. 왜 '여우같은 마누라와 토끼같은 새끼'라고 하는지 짐작이 갔습니다. 귀엽고도 신기하여 한참을 응시하는데 정작 여우는 그러는 제가 더 신기하다는 바라보았습니다. 

안타까운 건 너구리가 차에 치여 죽는 일이 잦다는 사실입니다. 동작이 느리고 능글능글한 놈은 차가 다가와도 움직일 생각은 않고 헤드라이트를 쳐다보다가 사고를 당하지요. 하루에도 몇 번 씩 길거리에 나둥그러져있는 너구리를 봅니다.

인근엔 스컹크 가족도 삽니다. 눈을 뜨지도 못하는 새끼 한마리가가 기어 나와 갈팡질팡하는데 어미가 나와 입으로 물고 컨테이너 아래 집으로 들어갔지요.

아름다운 대자연 속에 인간들만 산다면 얼마나 삭막할까요?

<Wild times in ontario>

On a cool summer evening at the side of highway that bisects Algonquin Provincial Park, lit by the Milky Way and a sky dense with stars, the only sounds are the sawing of crickets, the occasional chirp of some nocturnal bird, and the tick-tick-tick of cooling engines.

A walkie-talkie at stifled volume crackles the news that other volunteers are in positions a few kilometers up and down the highway, and after a short pause Rick Stronks, chief park naturalist, nods to a colleague who then throws back his head and lets loose a long loud howl at the star-filled sky.

Once the sound has faded everyone holds their breath and listens intently, but the silence now seems complete. If Algonquin's wolves are at home they're not taking calls.

About 200 km from Toronto, Hwy.60 cuts across the south end of the 7,630 sq-km park, offering easy access to lodges, restaurants and  trails. But another Algonquin is "out there," says Stronks with a motion of his arm that takes in most of the horizon.

 "Here, near the highway, is where most people experience Algonquin, but if you talk to people who really appreciate the park, it's the vast interior that's the essence of it."

The Hwy 60 corridor may be the domestic side of the park, but it's still where more people have had encounters with wolves than anywhere else in the world.

These wily predators are not easy to track. At the end of winter the park's s mall family packs are estimated to number 20-25(about 200 animals), and later in the year as many as 35 packs. In the '60's when there were more of the white-tailed deer that form their prey, there may have been up to 55 packs.

Human interest in wolves is much easier to quantify; on average around 1,400 people attend the wolf howl sessions held weekly in August, weather permitting and as many as 2,700 have been known to show up, their cars parked for long distances along the highway, which is briefly shut for the event.

Stronks's purpose tonight is to locate a nearby pack to know where to bring visitors for the wolf howl the next evening. Tehere's about a four in five chances that the unseen wolves will respond and howl for their audience, but a lot of effort oges into keeping that success rate up.

In the late summer, when there are pups, the packs are relatively slow-moving and despite the lack of response this evening Stronks is still fairly sure at least one of them is somewhere in the same vicinity it was last week.

After further fruitless attempts, and hushed walkie-talkie discussion we move a few kilometres, and once everyone's in position, howl again. This time a long, eerie high-pitched wail comes in return, one that communicates directly with some primordial fear making the hair on neck lift in response.

Never mind seeing the park, it's worth travelling here just to listen to it.

No special skills are needed to talk to wolves. Back in the '60's it was discovered the animals will respond to any rough imitation of a howl: "Just make a large loud noise," say Stronks. Despite its hair raising qualities the howling has little to do with hunting or treat, but may well be just a returning hunter communicating with his family in the night, and amount to no more than the wolfish equivalent of "Honey! I'm home!"

To a degree, Algonquin is the wilderness equivalent of a flat-pack furniture store-no previous experience or tools required. Outfitters along the Hwy.60 corridor provide any equipment that might be needed for canoeing or trekking and there are museum, lodges, restaurants, and campsites and well-groomed hiking trails for anyone who wants only a limited amount of wild in his or her life,

Multiple lay-bys lead to winding paths, where the sound of the occasional passing vehicle is left behind. The tall trees produce a cathedral-like atmosphere and every path lead eventually to a view of some kind, perhaps from a cliff edge across a green sea of tousled pines.

There are serious back packing trails but the park's main attraction if the 2,000 km of canoeing routes, some of which quickly take you beyond cellphone range and up to two days away from the nearest help.

"That's the way to do it," says Storonks enthusiastically: "Paddle and portage! You can paddle for days...that is the essence of Algonquin.

And while you're still unlikely to see a wolf, this is also the way to catch sight of some of the park's more than 2,000 black bears, 30,000 beavers and 2,100 moose. The near-silent progress of the canoe allows fortunate visitors to drift up unprotected to moose drinking at a lake's edge, close enough to see the mist of its breath hanging in the cool early morning air.

The trees are for some the park's greatest glory, and not only the large stands of virgin white pine as much as 35 meters high in the interior, but along Hwy.60 where the busiest season of all is as the trees change colour in the autumn, striping the hillsides with reds and russets in such extravagance it can bring traffic to a halt, and drawing a large international audience.

Bald and golden eagles add to the enjoyment of winter visitors as they conduct aerial patrols in search of leftovers from wolf kills. By this time the packs are using the frozen rivers and lakes as travel routes and may cover as much as 15 km in a single night, making the animals' location impossible to predict and the wolf howl sessions impossible even for those who might want to stand around in the icy midnight temperatures.

But in the summer there will once again be opportunities not only to feel the call of the wild, but to hear it.

IF YOU GO

A map of access routes and full details of programs at the Alongquin Provincial Park ca be found at algonquinpark.on.ca. Wolf howls take place on Thursday in August.

(Source:Toronto Sun Wednesday, June 17, 2009 page 50 by Peter Neville-Hadley)