More Whitehorse, Yukon Wildlife Preserve

On the other side of the river and a little further west, accessible from the highway to Dawson, is the Yukon Wildlife Preserve. We drove up from Whitehorse next day in the tracker and pulled into the Preserve to find we just had time to make a quick run up the road to “Bean North” for a coffee and carrot cake to take with us on the tour.

Back at the preserve we were soon on the bus and getting a good close look at Yukon Wildlife. The only non-native species here is mule deer, brought into the Yukon decades ago as a game animal!

The park got its start 40 years ago when land in the Yukon was cheap and wildlife permits easy to obtain, neither of which is true today.

Some years ago the Territorial government purchased the park and it is now run by the Yukon Wildlife Preserve Operating Society, a charitable society.

The house was the home of the original owner, now it is used as the administrative offices. Nice office! Kept nearby are the few animals that have become very used to human interaction due to having had to be bottle fed as newborns. The musk-ox is Jessie, a gentle giant. The lamb is being bottle fed, though in company of its family. The photographer is doing an article on the preserve.

Here are a few more examples of the animals large and small that we enjoyed. The small one is an Arctic Fox

These are some of our favourite pictures. Though luck had a lot to do with it, the lynx being a very shy creature, we are quite proud of them. In fact our tour guide approached Art at the end of the tour for a copy of the sitting lynx.

The lynx was first hiding in the den then began stalking a ground squirrel. Using "Sport Mode" on the camera, we were able to take dozens of frames in less than a second.

For a good look, remember, "click" on the picture to enlarge it then use the back arrow at the top of your screen to return to the blog page.

After the tour we carried on up the road from there to the Takhini Hot Springs and went for a swim. These are natural hot springs that have been contained in a hot pool which then feeds the warm swimming pool. Art spending some time in the hot pool “stewing”. We then adjourned to the restaurant for a late lunch/early dinner where an example of the local avian life (known to steal fries) came to check out the tables.

After our very good meal we visited a Swiss couple at their campsite for a glass of wine. They had been parked beside us in Whitehorse a few days before and when he saw us sitting by the pool Peter came by to invite us over later. They are on a trip around the Americas and we may run into them again in Mexico this fall/winter as they make their way to Central and South America in their mototorhome which they brought over from Switzerland.