Tis the season for aggressive, protective mothers out to bash in the heads of anyone who messes with their young.
Of course, these are four-legged mothers of the cow variety, not the ladies you see walking around with their chariots—although it's not recommended that you mess with their young either.
Calving season, between May 15 and June 30, is one of two seasons where elk are particularly aggressive. The other is rutting season in the fall.
“Calving season is the riskier of the two for people,” Grant Peregoodoff, a Parks Canada human-wildlife conflict specialist, said last week. “The bulls are very obvious. They’ll show you right away that they’re not happy with you. They’ll lower their antlers. But the cows, you can stumble onto a calf along a walkway and then the mother will come charging out from somewhere.”
When born, calves are scentless, so cows will leave them in a bush or next to a rock where they are camouflaged and then graze a distance away, while watching for predators.
In an effort to protect their young, cows in Jasper have taken to giving birth in areas that are highly populated by people, said Peregoodoff. “They’re less likely to have predators in areas with people around because cougars are more wary, wolves are more wary and bears are too.”
Two areas in particular are popular for calving, Whistlers Campground and Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge.
When a calf is born in a populated area and there’s an aggressive cow trying to protect her young, conflict specialists like Peregoodoff go in and relocate the calf.
To do that, Parks staff first determine where it is hiding by walking around the area near the cow and wait for it to charge. This indicates they are close to the calf.
“So we’ll be like, ‘OK we know it’s in this general area’ and then once we find it we’ll kind of make a plan on how to move it safely.”
Once a plan is made, one person picks up the calf, while everyone else wards the mother off with elk sticks—hockey sticks with streamers on the end.
“You have to move slow enough that she is willing to keep following, and that’s hard because things are feeling a bit anxious, so you’re wanting to move really fast, but we want her to follow the calf so that we can reunite them in a safer place.”
If Parks specialists move too fast, the mother will lose interest and return to the spot where she last saw her calf, forcing the team to turn around and re-engage her.
“There’s been years where we’ve done 30 calf relocations in a spring, which is a lot because it’s a fairly risky process, but we need to do it to keep the campground safe,” said Peregoodoff.
The calves born in Whistlers Campground are relocated to an area across the highway that is closed to the public from May 15 to June 30. That piece of land is one of three that is closed off during calving season. There is also a portion of land between Old Fort Point and JPL and a chunk near Pine Bungalows.
“Those are spots where we can keep people out and let the elk go about their natural business, doing their calving undisturbed.
“That helps everyone because it separates people from elk during this season.” And that’s important because cows can be pretty unforgiving if they feel their calf is threatened.
“Ungulates are very dangerous in the sense that if they start to hit you they don’t stop, they keep pounding or jumping up and down on you, so it’s very important not to play dead. If you get knocked over by a cow, get up, get behind a tree, find a safe place. She might still be trying to circle, but keep your eyes on her and try not to turn your back.”
During calving season last year, there were 61 elk encounters between humans and cows. Thirty-six of those were threat encounters, while there was only one contact encounter and that was with an off-leash dog.
“If the animals feel a threat for any reason, like they want to protect their food or their calves, then they’ll start to show you the signs. When that cow is staring at you and the hairs on its rump are standing up and its grinding it’s teeth, it’s sending you a message. It’s saying, ‘You’re too close.’”
To report elk encounters, call 780-852-6155.
How to avoid an elk encounter:
- Stay 30 metres away
- Avoid lone cows
- Avoid lone calves
- Walk on open roads rather than forested paths
- Keep children within arms reach
- Travel in groups
What to do if you encounter an aggressive elk:
- Act dominant
- Seek protection behind a tree or vehicle
- Raise your arms or flap a jacket
- Maintain eye contact and move away
- If knocked down, get up and move away
