LEARN FROM PAST MISTAKES!  We can't let the future become the past.

 

The BC government has been engaging in sterilization experiments and government control ("kill") for more than a decade and wants to continue to, although these programs have not resulted in any measurable benefits for caribou, despite nearly all of the wolves being killed in these caribou recovery areas, as stated in the BC Wolf Management Plan.

 

Statements from BC Wolf Management Plan Released April 17, 2014

 

pg. 17 5.3  Management of Species at Risk

                "Attempting to control wolves to reduce predation risk on endangered caribou has been a provincial priority since 2001 with the initiation of a pilot reduction program in the Cariboo region (Roorda and Wright, 2004, 2007, 2010).  Wolf reduction occurred through removals and sterilization of dominant pairs.  Wolf densities were reduced; however, a correlation between reduced wolf densities and caribou recovery could not be substantiated....

 

pg 17.

                "...The provincial government hired trappers to remove wolves from within, and adjacent to, endangered caribou range in the Kootenay region.  Although some wolves were removed, most caribou herds continued to decline (C. Ritchie, pers. comm., 2011).  The rational for the wolf removal is based on the hypothesis that increasing populations of moose and deer within caribou habitat have resulted in higher wolf populations that have incidentally increased predation pressure on caribou (Mountain Caribou Science Team 2005; Wittmer et al. 2005)

 

Also, as stated in the management plan, government was clearly aware that increased hunting/trapping  of wolves could lead to an increased population with unstable social dynamics, however more hunting/trapping was encourage around caribou recovery areas and across most of BC, where seasons have been extended and in some cases bag limits removed.

 

 pg 8.

                Social disruption through the loss of alpha members can lead to unstable pack dynamics as dominance relationships within and among packs and individuals are re-established.  The result can be higher rates of intraspecific strife and "Plural breeding" (ie. mating by non-alpha members of the pack; Packard)

 

NOTE:     As of 2010, wolf" control" had been increased to include the following

 

• Wolf hunting seasons extended in some Wildlife Management Unit’s (WMU's), and there are now No Bag Limits in several ranges that overlap with mountain caribou habitat.  There is still no game seal required to hunt a wolf, and many regions are open year-round below 1100m.  
• MOE sterilization project in Caribou Region on pilot basis,…ongoing trapping, sterilization, collaring and killing in Quesnel and other areas.

 

Quote from  BC Forest Practices Board

"It seems unlikely that effective mountain caribou recovery will be achievable under the current land use plans.  Mountain caribou populations have declined under existing land use provisions and no all the plans' management approaches to mountain caribou habitat appear to be consistent with best available science" (2004)

 

 

 Quesnell Sterilization "Experiment"

Between 2001 and 2011:  93 wolves were reported killed and 57 wolves had their vital reproductive organs removed (these are minimums)

 

Quesnel Highland area in Cariboo Region – Sterilization pilot project both male and female alphas

• Begun /02  Lost funding a year then re-started, investment made by forestry company.  Will continue for another year (through 2011 summer) – sterilizing and killing more wolves

• Concern by conservationists that wolves will flee when returned to territory b/c traumatized….

  • gov’t response Chris Ritchie says good question, Williams Lake Vet doing and says not causing dispersal

  • Garth Mowatt says in Alaska where sterilized stay in territory to defend a few years then leave in search of fertile mate, but says staying put when returned at first, doesn’t think wolves coming out of Cariboo region

  • Communication between Gary Allan and government biologist for this region infers that returned sterilized wolves flee area and connot be relocated, despite wearing radio-collars

• Pack splintering by removing alpha is a major concern -> can actually increase predation rates but also creates UNKNOWNS

 

Killing Areas on Record

Revelstoke, Parsnip, Quesnell Highlands, South Selkirks, Wells Grey wolves are being trapped, killed, or sterilized by government employees since 2002.

 

Recent History.  Not forgotten. NOT repeated!

-1987 BC spent $100,000 on a program to protect game animals; this took the form of a wolf cull (the government contributed $30,000 of this)

-1982-1986 aerial hunting wolves in Fort Nelson BC, during which 798 wolves killed; BC government aerial killlled more than 1,000 wolves in Northeastern BC before being stopped by intense public outcry

-Yukon early 1990’s more than $2,500 spent for each wolf killed (and cost could have been even higher if they had not been radio collared)

 

POISON:
BC suspended use of Compound 1080 in 2002, but previously approved it for a second time in 1983.  Between 1983 – 1996 it killed 1400 wolves, 1024 coyotes, and many non-target animals including more than 900 bears, eagles, and other scavengers

 

BC Government’s recovery goal for mountain caribou is to:

“Halt the decline of mountain caribou within seven years for each Planning Unit and recover mountain caribou to 1995 population levels (2500 animals) across the mountain caribou range within 20 years in those Planning Units with greater than 10 animals.”  PUTTING MORE PRESSURE ON WOLF CONTROL...habitat will not yet be restored.