Alliance blasts province over wolf 'management' plan
By Damien Gillis
An alliance of 23 animal rights and environmental groups in BC and across Canada is furious at the BC Liberal government’s decision not to consult them regarding a new “wolf management plan” it is developing.
According to a press release from the Canadian Wolf Coalition, speaking on behalf of the alliance, “The groups are greatly concerned a new wolf management plan will only legitimize the systematic killing of wolves to appease big game hunters by artificially increasing the populations of animals such as caribou and elk.
“The groups – which include BC-based organizations like the Canadian Wolf Coalition, Raincoast Conservation Foundation, and Valhalla Wilderness Association – banded together in response to a 2009 report for the Province which recommended culling wolves by helicopter to minimize costs.
The same contractor who wrote that report, Steven F. Wilson, has now been put in charge of developing the government’s wolf management plan – to the consternation of these environmental and animal rights groups.
According to Sadie Parr, Project Coordinator for the Canadian Wolf Coalition,”Despite the assurances of government biologists that the survival of wolves as a species in BC is not threatened by predator control, reports suggest that less than three per cent of Canada is adequately protected for wolves. Even provincial parks allow hunting of wolves, and most National Parks are too small to adequately protect a healthy population.”
Parr adds, “Current wolf management already allows sterilization of dominant breeding pairs, removal of lower ranking wolves and shooting from helicopters. Furthermore, under the current hunting regulations baiting is allowed, and it is not mandatory to report wolf kills. There are also long hunting seasons, and no bag limits in some areas. It is ridiculous.”
The groups are calling on the BC Government to include in their wolf management plan strategies that will:
• protect habitat for wolves and their prey
• eliminate wolf hunting and trapping
• replace lethal control and sterilization with other non-invasive strategies
• reduce wolf-human conflict through educational initiatives
The group’s concerns are undersocred by the fact that BC is one of the last bastions for wild wolf populations in the world.
“Majestic and elusive, wolves in this province have persisted against continuous threats, providing a unique opportunity and responsibility to preserve them in their most natural form.”
[Editor’s Note: During his time as BC Environment Minister in the late 1970s, Common Sense Canadian co-founder Rafe Mair brought in legislation banning the slaughter of wolves.]
This article originally appeared on the Common Sense Canadian. Reprinted with permission.
