The Government of British Columbia is considering a plan to kill at least 80% of wolves in some regions where endangered caribou live, according to a documentunearthed by Conservation North.
It is well established that natural resource exploration and development is the primary cause of caribou decline: not only is their habitat being altered and taken from them, it is creating ideal habitat for wolves to hunt them. Removing the wolves won’t stop decline; stopping resource exploitation and creating habitat (which can be done rapidly with some simple methods) could save the caribou.
PODCAST: Killing animals to 'save' animals
Even within the document calling for increased predator killing, it is noted that “scientific evidence indicates that habitat alteration and loss, due to natural resource development and recreation, as well as increases in predation are the main factors” and that, “Wolf reduction will not recover a herd to a self-sustaining population and therefore is never carried out as the sole recovery action.”
But despite this clear and direct evidence, resource exploitation within caribou recovery areas continues.
Join us in calling on the government to immediately halt this plan and instead focus on the primary concern: industry. Non-lethal mitigation methods can be used to reduce predation as well.
