Human wolf howls are disturbing and harassing wolf packs, according to one Rocky Mountain biologist, however Parks Canada experts are skeptical of the claim.

Cam McTavish, a wildlife biologist with 22 years experience studying carnivores in Mountain National Parks, said when humans bellow wolf cries into the wilderness, wolves often have no choice but to expend valuable energy and investigate. He wants to see the activity curtailed in National Parks.

“It’s a dirty trick to pull on wolves,” McTavish said.

McTavish said he’s seen wolves travel long distances to investigate howls he and others have cried.

“I’ve had wolves six kilometres away come toward me. People aren’t realizing the implications of this. It’s a huge caloric expense, especially in the winter,” McTavish said.

During harsh winters, wolves base many of their decisions on expending energy. Human wolf calls can confuse them and can possibly drag them off track, McTavish said.

Wolves are very social creatures and have a huge repertoire of calls, McTavish said, and each has a different meaning. Yet this is disrupted when people join in.

“It’s not something they can ignore,” McTavish said. “Wolves are highly territorial. If they hear howling, they usually react to that and move.”

Often, the entire pack must investigate a howl, he said.

“They have to defend their territory and they’ll come towards you as a group.”

McTavish said the odd wolf howl isn’t likely a reason for concern, but cumulatively, the effect can be significant.

While there have been no studies of the effects of public wolf howls, McTavish is no amateur wolf biologist. He’s spent more than 20 years in the mountain parks studying wolves, and has worked on the Banff, Kootenay and Yoho wolf ecology projects.

While he believes there is a real feeling of connectedness experienced when a wolf responds to a human call, he believes there is a level of harassment that comes along with the activity.

“This is based on personal observations. Nobody has done a study on this... but we don’t know the effect upon wolf movement. The movements may be altered because of the calls. It’s folly to think it isn’t,” McTavish said.

There is evidence wolves don’t howl throughout the year, McTavish said. During the denning season, howling goes down, as the animals don’t want to give away those sites. Wolves don’t respond to all calls, as even people with strong wolf calls aren’t always successful in eliciting a response.

Wolf howls are permitted in national parks, and several eco-tours in town offer wolf howling tours. Jasper National Park biologist Mark Bradley said he doesn’t think wolf howls pose much of a risk to local populations, as there isn’t a great deal of calling occurring.

“From a biologist perspective, I don’t think the level going on is high enough to do anything,” Bradley said. “Personally, it’s hard to imagine it could affect the wolves.”

Bradley points out it is illegal to bugle for elk in the park, as it causes them to expend energy, which is dangerous in the winter. However wolves often don’t respond in the same manner.

“If you bugle an elk, it will attack you. Wolves might respond, but it’s hard to imagine it could affect them”, said Bradley.

Jesse Whittington is a biologist with Banff National Park, stationed in Lake Louise. He said he doesn’t wolf howl often; however, he said the calls are useful when collecting field data. Wolf howls are used by researchers to determine where an uncollared pack may be located in a valley.

“We try to minimize the impact we have upon wolves,” Whittington said.

Wolves in the Bow Valley deal with more human interactions than in Jasper. Increased traffic and photo seekers mean the wolves grow more accustomed to people.

“The wolves need a level of tolerance to navigate trails and roads, but when they’re so tolerant it affects their survival, then we have cause for concern,” Whittington said.

Whittington said he isn’t aware of a study examining the effects of public wolf howls on wolves, but respects McTavish’s observations.

“Cam’s followed wolves more than most people I know,” Whittington said.

There are three wolf packs that use the area close to Jasper. The Signal pack, which patrols the areas east of Highway 93 and Highway 16, has six wolves. The Cavell pack, which hunts in the Tonquin Valley, has three wolves, and the Pyramid Lake pack has an unknown number of wolves. All of the wolfpacks have come close to the townsite.