Roy L Hales/Cortes Currents - ‘Climate Crisis: The Cascade Effect’ opens at Wild Cortes, in the Linnaea Education Centre, 1 PM on Sunday May 29, 2022.

Co-curator Donna Collins explained that this exhibit illustrates what the climate crisis is doing to our natural habitat, especially deer and the island’s apex predators.

Deer ticks are already a problem, but they will take a greater toll as temperatures rise.

“The yearlings are usually the ones that suffer. They can't get enough nutrition, then the ticks take over and the deer doesn't make it,” she said.

There have been two possible cases of Adenovirus Hemorrhagic Disease (AHD) on Cortes Island. This is a fatal blood disease that has been spreading throughout Vancouver Island’s deer populations.

“This disease also transfers to humans,” warned Collins. “The only thing that we're being told at the moment is to just leave the deer, don't touch it. I guess the animals will decide whether they want to eat or not.”

“The cougars are the ones that are going to be hit first and the hardest because they have to make fresh kills about every three or four days if they're taking care of kittens. If not, then they can go on a kill a week, two weeks, something like that.”

She described Cortes Island’s cougars as a transient population, which swim between islands.

So do bears, that’s how the grizzly arrived on Quadra Island last year.

Collins said last year’s heat wave burned a lot of the shrubs and berries that bears normally eat.

“Bears will probably start looking for apples and things like that. They're trying very hard to eat as much as they can so that they can make it through the winter.”

Collins mentioned the problem Cortes Island had with the Whaletown and Squirrel Cove Bears two years ago.

People will have to be careful. Don’t leave compost or garbage out and definitely do not feed wild animals

“You don't want animals getting accustomed to equating humans with food. And that's where you start getting problems between humans and predators, even the prey,” she said. “If the deer are all around and you keep feeding them, then next thing you know, the wolves are thinking, ‘Hmm. A lot of deer over here, let's see what's for lunch.’”

Cortes Island’s wolves may be especially hungry this year. Between 75% and 85% of their food normally comes from the ocean.

“The heat dome baked a whole bunch of shellfish and other things that the wolves normally would have been eating. So now the deer will probably be more impacted by the wolf pack,” said Collins.

She explained that everything is out of balance because of the rise of global temperatures.

New species of insects and animals are entering our area.

Barred Owls, for example, were originally found on the east coast.

“The owls that normally inhabit our island have absolutely no defences against this rather large owl. The Barred Owls are predating on the smaller owls like the Saw-whet and the Pygmy Owls,” said Collins.