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“Wolves became more habituated and it perpetrated further conflict,” Windle said.

Wolves can become habituated by having prolonged interactions with people. Some people try to feed them directly. Others leave food or garbage around after a visit to the park.

“We all have a role in keeping wildlife wild,” he said.

“Wanting to get close to them for social media feeds can be harmful to them. Give them the space they need and don’t give them access to any human food.”

Windle is making the call-out for volunteers to act as “poop fairies” or “scat scientists” because wolves cover a lot of distance over a large area.

“If it was just one or two staff trying to walk around, that would be a pretty difficult and not overly productive task,” Windle said.

Instead, they’re going to make use of people who are already spending time outdoors, matching people to a beach or a trail that is already part of their routine.

“That way we’re getting a small army, a group of dedicated volunteers, able to cover a larger area and we’ll get a much larger sample size.”

Photo by Submitted / Parks Canada

The scat samples will help scientists understand the diet, ancestry and kinship of the local wolf population.

Volunteers will be asked to attend an instructional day to learn how to collect wolf scat. They’ll receive biological sampling bags and gloves and learn how to use a GPS to mark a location. They’ll be taught how to fill out data sheets with the date, time and location of the sample.

They’ll also learn how to tell the difference between wolf scat, cougar scat and domestic dog scat, Windle said.