P.E.I. wildlife groups boost number of trail cams tracking animals — including elusive river otters
Prince Edward Island wildlife groups are increasingly turning to technology to monitor what's happening in woods and streams across the Island.
The Forests, Fish and Wildlife division has 40 cameras watching year-round for trends in wildlife species, including coyotes and foxes.
"We get a lot of neat behavioural photos like coyotes looking at the camera," said Matt Ginn, wildlife biologist. "Also, we've got a few red fox with snowshoe hare, which is interesting. So we know that they're able to find snowshoe hare for food.
"You get families of pheasants, grouse and Hungarian partridge."
Ginn said the trail cameras are an important tool for wildlife officials.
"These species haven't really been monitored, aside from fur-harvesting statistics, on P.E.I.," he said. "It's a good indicator of the presence of these species on the Island.
"It's probably the best way so far that we've had to quantify their occupancy in certain areas and also look at changes in the colonization and extirpation rates."
Ginn said they're starting to see some trends since 2020, including a slight decline in red fox numbers and an increase in coyotes.
Return of river otters
Meanwhile, eight more cameras were added this year to a project by watershed groups from Souris to Miminegash, looking for river otters.
Due to hunting and habitat loss, river otters have been presumed extinct, or extirpated, on the Island since the early 1900s.
There were only anecdotal reports of tracks and sightings until 2016, when an adult male otter was captured in a beaver trap in the Kensington area.
The first camera was set up in the same area in 2019, and river otters have been seen in multiple photos since then.
The Morell River Management Cooperative said it might have captured a river otter on its trail cam in March 2024, though the image isn't clear enough to confirm the species.
"It was very exciting," said co-ordinator Hannah Murnaghan. "We wish it was a little closer to the camera, but we're holding out hope that we'll eventually capture one if they are in the watershed."
While looking for evidence of otters, watershed groups get to observe lots of other birds and mammals.
Having the cameras out just gives us a better understanding of what different species are using the riparian area, so that we can strategically plan our projects around that.
The cameras are triggered by movement, so staff have to go through lots of photos to find the good ones.
"It's always exciting to get to go through the footage in hopes that we do catch a river otter, but it usually is just the usual suspects of wildlife that we get," said environmental field technician Lily Corlett.
"We have gotten really good images of species, [from] waterfowl to small mammals, like American mink and great blue herons."
To safeguard the privacy of humans, Ginn said the province posts signs along with its trail cams, letting people know they are there, and both he and the Morell group said any photos captured of people or vehicles are deleted.
The Morell group would like to get a few more trail cams, because it's a big watershed and they have lots of territory to cover.
"Having the cameras out just gives us a better understanding of what different species are using the riparian area, so that we can strategically plan our projects around that and hopefully provide better habitat for them," Murnaghan said.
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Japan Forward
a day ago
- Japan Forward
China Backs Students to Influence Japan's Research and Academia
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"Over 40% of these government-supported doctoral students are Chinese," Sasaki explained in a recent interview with JAPAN Forward. "Meanwhile, Japanese students are being left behind. It's both unfair and risky." University of Tokyo's Akamon Gate Sasaki points to the swelling ranks of Chinese students at top universities such as the University of Tokyo, Kyoto University, and Waseda. What may seem like a benign form of international exchange, he warns, actually carries national security implications. "China isn't a G7 country," he said. "It's a dictatorship. We must face that reality." At the center of his concern is the CSC, the China Scholarship Council. Thousands of Chinese students abroad, including in Japan, are funded under this program. But there's a catch: recipients must sign secret contracts pledging loyalty to the Chinese government. "Their families are restricted from leaving China. Embassies and consulates monitor them and they must submit regular reports," Sasaki said. "If the Chinese state demands something, like sensitive data, they cannot refuse." This dynamic poses a serious national security risk, Sasaki warns, particularly in research-intensive fields like science and engineering. "In Tokushima, authorities arrested a Chinese researcher for stealing data. There are likely more cases that go unreported," he noted. The concern isn't abstract. Other democracies have already sounded the alarm. Sweden, Germany, and the Netherlands have investigated CSC-funded students. Some were later linked to the People's Liberation Army or Chinese state security agencies. So why hasn't Japan taken similar precautions? "Japan has no real counterintelligence infrastructure," Sasaki lamented. "Even if you suspect espionage, the legal framework doesn't allow wiretapping in economic or national security cases. The only tools we have are for terrorism or drug crimes." But the risk doesn't stop at individual espionage. Sasaki says Japan's academic institutions are slowly being infiltrated from within. Some CSC-funded students stay on after graduation and work their way up the academic ladder. "They become associate professors or even full professors at Japanese universities," he said. "Then they begin teaching Chinese-style history to Japanese students." Sasaki also draws attention to Confucius Institutes, Chinese government-backed cultural and language centers operating worldwide, often housed within universities. While many Western countries have shuttered these institutions, citing concerns over propaganda and surveillance, Japan still plays host to several. "Waseda University still has one," Sasaki said. "When Hu Jintao or Jiang Zemin visited, the venues filled with Chinese nationals. Just from that scene, you'd think the place was already occupied." Confucius Institute Headquarters in Beijing. 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Montreal Gazette
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- Montreal Gazette
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By The documentary begins intriguingly enough: 'Where do you want to go in the ocean? What is the most known site in the ocean? It's clearly the Titanic.' The speaker is well-heeled, maverick American inventor Stockton Rush, whose mission it was to take paying passengers 3,800 metres into the Atlantic Ocean in his mini-sub to scope the ruins of the Titanic luxury liner that sank on its maiden voyage in April 1912 after striking an iceberg 600 kilometres off the coast of Newfoundland. More than 1,500 passengers died in that disaster. Five died, including Rush, when his submersible the Titan imploded on its way down to the Titanic wreck on June 18, 2023. The documentary Implosion: The Titanic Sub Disaster takes a deep and disturbing plunge into the apparent arrogance of Titan mastermind Rush, the co-founder and CEO of the OceanGate undersea exploration company. 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Winnipeg Free Press
04-06-2025
- Winnipeg Free Press
Niède Guidon, the archaeologist who discovered hundreds of cave paintings in Brazil, dies at 92
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