TIANS Lobbies to Protect Chignecto Game Sanctuary
“The protection of our natural resources is crucial for tourism,
as these regions represent the best of our tourism product.”
- Danny Morton, Chairman, Tourism Industry Association of Nova Scotia
For two centuries Nova Scotia was known worldwide for a large game animal called a “moose.” American baseball players, movie stars, kings and princes have all taken part in bagging the large-antlered animal. As Nova Scotia became more populated the mighty moose was seen less and less until the local residents began a move to protect the species.
Chignecto Game Sanctuary was established in 1937, primarily for the benefit of the Nova Scotia moose. This sanctuary was put aside so that the breeding stock would be viable and the species would not be exterminated.
Dale Wilson, an award-winning photographer who grew up next to the Sanctuary recently wrote, “Somehow, between then (1937) and now, we have permitted Chignecto Game Sanctuary to become less of a wildlife refuge and more of a forest management area. It would appear the bureaucratic psychology of the Department of Natural Resources has drifted from allowing ‘game of all kinds (to) live their lives as nature intended’ to a measuring a sanctuaries worth in board feet and metric tonnes.” In other words it has become okay to cut timber and that, somehow, the animals won’t be affected. Huh?
Keeping the 22,000 hectares of the Chignecto area free of saws is not only beneficial to the wildlife it is vital to Nova Scotia’s tourism industry. The Tourism Industry Association of Nova Scotia has jumped in on the side of the Sanctuary because the group realizes that wild areas attract tourists.
When is a Sanctuary Not Like a Sanctuary?
But why is there such an outcry now? Well, unlike a national park there is limited trapping and hunting allowed in Chignecto. Not only that, there is no provision for keeping out clear-cutting operations, open pit mining and other development. So this doesn’t sound like any protected area I’ve ever encountered. It really sounds as though this area is only protected when the government of the day wants it protected.]
Now the government has given a Calgary seismic company permission to test for natural gas in the region. Seismic almost always includes blasting, which is not good for the mental stability of animals.
There are different groups who are banding together to fight this incursion and if you want to join they have a Facebook group: Don’t Drill for Oil at the Chignecto Game Sanctuary
So join up and support this great cause. Your kids will be glad you did.
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