The BC Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations announced in a statement dated Jan. 15, 2015 that they were initiating a cull of some 120 to 160 grey wolves from a pack located in the South Peace region of B.C., and another 24 from a pack in the South Selkirk Mountains. According to the statement, the planned cull will be conducted by ministry staff (who will shoot the wolves from helicopters), in order to protect dwindling herds of local mountain caribou.
“The South Selkirk herd is at high risk of local extinction,” says the ministry. “The population has declined from 46 caribou in 2009 to 27 in 2012 and to 18 as of March 2014. Evidence points to wolves being the leading cause of mortality.”
Wolves are similarly responsible for the decline in caribou herds in the South Peace region where an estimated 37 per cent of all adult mortalities have been documented as wolf predation.
The statement goes on to say, “hunting and trapping of wolves have not effectively reduced (wolf) populations, and may even split up packs and increase predation rates on caribou. Habitat recovery continues to be an important part of caribou recovery, but cannot address the critical needs of these herds in the short term.”
In another Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations statement, assistant deputy minister Tom Ethier says, “the evidence points to wolves being the leading cause of caribou mortality, the ministry recognizes that the targeted wolf removal is required. The province believes that caribou are a valuable part of the natural ecosystem and should not be left to slowly die out.”
In the same statement, he goes on to say, “other caribou recovery efforts, including habitat protection and restoration are already in place and will help put the caribou back on an even footing ecologically, but if we wait for these measures to have an impact it will be too late.”
While the peer-reviewed Wolf Management Plan, released in April 2015, outlined the need for a targeted wolf cull, wolf researcher and director of the Ontario-based Wolf Awareness Foundation, Sadie Parr says the planned cull is “unscientific and flawed.”
Parr says wolves are social animals, which means that killing them will fracture existing groups, with many moving on to breed and form other packs, thereby increasing the current wolf population and subsequently putting even more pressure on the mountain caribou herds
In a press release also dated Jan. 15, B.C.-based Pacific Wild states, “Decades of habitat destruction and human encroachment have left B.C.’s mountain caribou on the edge of survival. Instead of protecting critical food and habit for the caribou, such as the lichen-rich Interior forests, the B.C. government is now blaming the wolves.”
The group also points out winter-based motorized activity (such as snowmobiles) is another major factor in the decline of caribou herds in the Selkirk Mountains, and a number of environmental groups argue the government should be looking at restricting the use of motorized-vehicle activity in endangered caribou habitat.
The way I see it, expecting wolves not to predate on caribou grazing in their back yard is sort of like cooking up pork chops, setting them on a plate on the kitchen table, telling the dog not to touch them and then leaving the room.
The wolf cull, not unlike the plate of pork chops, amounts to a lack of reasoning coupled with a lack of understanding, combined with a natural instinct to eat food that’s sitting right there in front of you. What you have left to chew on is pretty much a no-win situation.
