There is a growing number of violations in Canadian national parks and many of them involve camping without a permit, harassing wildlife and alcohol violations, according to Parks Canada.
A recent evaluation of Parks Canada’s law enforcement looked at a five-year period of park violations between March 2009 and 2015.
There was an overall increase in the annual number of incidents recorded across all national parks. From 2010-2011 there were 6,892 reported violations. And from 2014-2015 there were 8,706 reported infractions.
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More than a third of all violations happened in Banff and Jasper national parks. Parks Canada said a number of violations are “strongly correlated” with the amount of visitors at a site.
Violations ranged from firearm violations, dogs who are off leash, illegal hunting and excess noise.
There were also a few odd violations, such as five incidents of poisoning, 48 occurrences of nudism and five illegal border crossings.
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Between 2009 and 2015, there was a total of 48,439 enforcement responses, according to the report.
From 2013 to 2014, park wardens recorded giving more than 7,399 warnings (verbal or written).
The report also showed warders laid a total of 2,044 charges and participated in 120 arrests from 2013 to 2014.
Parks Canada manages 46 national parks, 171 national historic sites, four national marine conservation areas and one national urban park.
Admission into national parks is free this year, as part of the Canada 150 celebrations. The free 2017 Parks Canada Discovery Pass allows access to all national parks in 2017. Camping, tours, and other for-fee services are not included.
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