Help end western Canada's Wolf Killing Programs
Wolves in Canada are running out of places to hide. These highly intelligent, highly sentient beings are being gunned down from helicopters that are contracted by provincial governments.
END AERIAL GUNNING OF WOLVES IN CANADA.
In British Columbia and Alberta, the provincial governments have been directing an unwarranted and inhumane wolf killing program ostensibly to protect declining caribou populations. Wolves continue to be killed in unspeakable ways, for no reason. The real culprit driving caribou to extinction is habitat loss.
The Truth about Aerial Gunning
It is nearly impossible to deliver a lethal shot to an animal that’s being chased by a helicopter.
Far from 'clean kills', many uncontrollable conditions in the field result in severe injuries that last from several hours to days. No animal should have to experience such agony.
Wolf kill programs hurt wolves and ecosystems.
BRITISH COLUMBIA WOLF KILLING PROGRAM
In British Columbia, a government-sanctioned aerial-gunning program for wolves began in 2015 and has now killed more than 2,000 wolves. The program continues to expand into more areas of the province, while caribou ranges continue to be logged, including the clear-cutting of old-growth forests that these animals depend upon for their survival. This practice is not only leading to the demise of caribou, but it is also causing the collapse of the last functioning inland rainforest on the planet.
Logging and motorized recreation take a huge toll on caribou habitat.
The BC government knowingly allows this to happen by inviting logging, access roads and motorized recreational activities into critical caribou habitat.
British Columbia Results
Canada wolf cull subsidy damages caribout habitat
In December, 2023, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation revealed that British Columbia's controversial wolf cull has resulted in at least 1944 wolves shot and killed from helicopters. The government program, designed to keep 13 mountain caribou herds from going extinct, began in 2015 and has direct costs of more than
$10 million CAD.
Despite conflicting reports about the effectiveness of killing wolves, the provincial government seems to be using the ongoing program as permission to allow industrial activities to continue degrading caribou habitats. British Columbia must acknowledge the uncertainty in the scientific evidence and critically assess and adjust its caribou conservation plans accordingly.
ALBERTA WOLF KILLING PROGRAM
In Alberta, more than 3,615 wolves have been killed in and adjacent to caribou ranges since 2005, ostensibly to protect caribou herds. Most of these herds continue to face ongoing habitat destruction and impoverishment, like the Little Smoky herd whose range has been more than 95% disturbed by oil and gas infrastructure.
Alberta Results
Delayed Alberta report shows little progress on caribou protection despite deal with feds
In February, 2024, Global News reported that an Alberta government document suggested the province had made little progress in protecting its 15 threatened caribou herds, despite having signed an agreement with Ottawa that promised it would.
That document, released three years late on Jan. 19, is the first report into the so-called Section 11 agreement between the province and Environment Canada. The 2020 agreement was made under threat of the federal government stepping in to protect critical habitat for the herds, which are in many cases almost entirely disturbed by resource development.
Wolves are inherently and intrinsically valuable.
There is a lack of scientific evidence that wolf kill programs increase ungulate populations. In fact, killing wolves over a prolonged period has major ecological repercussions, negatively impacting many species, including plants and animals, in the ecosystem.
The inhumane killing of thousands of wolves is ethically unsound, regardless of the potential outcome.