Home

ANOTHER proposed BC wolf cull.

Mon, 11/30/2009 - 18:20 — echiax

The BC Government is considering a proposal to cull or sterilize wolves in the name of Mountain Caribou recovery... A draft management plan has been released to cull or sterilze BC wolves in the name of mountain caribou recovery and also includes killing cougars, moose, and even white-tailed deer.  The Canadian Wolf Coalition strongly opposes the plan and is working against it. Get involved.  Below is our letter...please use ours to help create your own!

WRITE for their lives! 

 
Honourable Barry Penner
Minister of the Environment
PO Box 9047 STN PROV GOVT
Victoria, BC V8W 9E2 
Fax: (250) 387-1356
 
Honourable Gordon Campbell
Premier
PO Box 9041 STN PROV GOVT
Victoria, BC V8W 9E1
Fax: (250) 387-0087

 
The Honourable Jim Prentice
Minister of the Environment
Les Terasses de la Chaudiere
10 Wellington St. 28th Floor
Gatineau, Quebec K1A 0H3
Fax: (819) 953-0279

 
November 21, 2009
 
Re: Wolf control recommendations for predator-prey management to benefit the recovery of Mountain Caribou in British Columbia.
We, as the Canadian Wolf Coalition, are writing to present our position regarding the draft predator-prey management plan and hope that you will re-examine the proposal with our considerations in mind before implementing predator control.
Wolf culls have been taking place in BC since the 1960’s, indicating that this practice is a short-term and unsustainable technique as caribou numbers have continued to decline. Science recognizes that the real threat to mountain caribou stems from alterations in natural habitat, caused by human activity.
We have several strong objections to the proposal:
1.       Lack of scientific evidence that targeted wolves are preying on mountain caribou. The plan suggests “Removal of all resident packs and/or individuals is a legitimate goal where even rare predation events would further jeopardize the viability of a caribou herd.” The event of rare predation on caribou by as few as one individual wolf does not merit removal of all resident packs and/or individuals, ESPECIALLY where human disturbances are still affecting caribou herds. Predator killing should only (if ever) occur as a last resort, and only after it has been clearly shown that the targeted predators are preventing recovery of herds at immediate risk of extirpation.  Scientific evidence to date indicates that both bears and wolverines predate on more caribou than wolves in areas where wolf culls are proposed.  There is no scientific evidence that targeted wolves are the primary threat to mountain caribou herds.  We ask that you focus efforts on research by identifying wolf-caribou range overlaps and investigating the composition of wolf diet, through scat analysis and observation at kill sites, to identify the amount of caribou depredation caused by wolves. If and where culls occur AFTER positive evidence of wolf predation on caribou, there should be area-based closures.   
 
2.       Very little work has been done on caribou herd augmentation efforts thus far, as has been recommended by the Caribou Recovery Program. The proposed recommendations take the stand that wolf removals must occur before augmentation is attempted; this is ethically unacceptable. Augmentation efforts are long overdue.   Moreover, with the continued use and development of mineral exploration procedures and roads that coincide, wolf control would have to be ongoing and long-term to avoid the ease of access new wolves would have to caribou. Where mountain caribou herds are in imminent danger, we feel they should be augmented and such areas considered as no-harvest zones. 
 
3.    Wolf control is publicly unacceptable. Killing one (or more) species to protect another is an outdated practice, especially as research has revealed conflicting results on the effectiveness of wolf culls to increase caribou and other ungulate populations.In an era where there is a continued decline in large carnivores and overall biodiversity worldwide, it is important to consider both the intrinsic value of wolves as well as their role in stabilizing diverse ecosystem processes.  Too often wolves are used as  scapegoats for declines in ungulate populations when human pressures are ultimately the cause.  Mineral exploration should not be exempt from environmental assessments to prevent further exacerbation of decling mountain caribou herds.  Several organizations, including the Canadian Wolf Coalition, are expected to ensure public outcry against wolf culls or sterilizations. As 2010 has been designated  the Year of Biodiversity by the IUCN, the BC government can expect a great deal of negative publicity in its Olympic year if a decision to kill wolves is made, as the species is recognized by conservation biologists around the world as a large carnivore performing as a keystone, indicator, and umbrella species. 
 
4.       Lack of scientific evidence that predator control will increase mountain caribou herds. “There is no factual basis for the assumption that a few year period of intensive wolf control can result in long-term changes in ungulate population densities” (taken from pp.21 Wolf and Bear Management: Experiments and Evaluations; Wolves, Bears, And Their Prey in Alaska. Biological and Social Challenges in Wildlife Management. National Academy Press. Washington, DC 1997.). Lethal control of wolves as a management tool has mixed results and is technically unsound for long-term management of an ecosystem. When entire packs are eliminated, wolves from other areas may move in to take over the territory. Furthermore, sterilization of wolves may be ineffective in reducing births if hunting and trapping continues, as sterilized breeders may be indiscriminately killed leading to a change in pack structure, and possible breeding of non-sterilized individuals. 
 
In addition, the moose reduction strategy is theoretical and has not been demonstrated as effective in the recovery of vulnerable caribou populations. If wolves were not systematically removed from the ecosystem as it is currently functioning, they would continue to reduce moose and deer numbers over time.
 
5.       The proposed management of predators is a short-term design. Long term Caribou recovery requires a strategy that limits continued compromises to essential habitat. To date, management practices have allowed for new recreation, exploration, and extraction of resources in caribou habitat.  Why are you allowing the continuation of activities that have the potential for exacerbating the decline of caribou without having a biologist review the possible outcomes? Clearly, resource managers are neither managing FOR wildlife nor practicing ecosystem-based management, both of which are essential for the recovery and long term health of mountain caribou. We must prevent and limit activities that destroy habitat, fragment herds, and create snowpack. Although snowmobiling and heli-skiing restrictions have been implemented in some areas, we do not feel that this is enough to meet habitat conservation objectives within protected areas over the long term. As long as human activities take precedent in mountain caribou habitat, killing (or sterilizing) predators to enhance caribou recovery is biologically and ethically flawed. This should come prior to predator control practices. We ask that industrial and recreational activity within mountain caribou range be minimized or stopped first, before predator control is even considered.
While we fully support the recovery of caribou in BC, we concede that efforts should be focused on the restoration and protection of essential mountain caribou habitat as a long-term solution. Predator culls are short-sighted management techniques that have proven ineffective in the past and will not go unnoticed.
The Canadian Wolf Coalition opposes the Recommendations for Predator-Prey Management to Benefit Recovery of Mountain Caribou in British Columbia as prepared by Steven F. Wilson for the BC Ministry Of Environment.
Sincerely,
 The Canadian Wolf Coalition