#wolf cull

[rivenharlow]

Protect Our Wolves

   When I was young, I was told to write an essay about any topic that struck a cord within me. Naturally, being the 13-year-old animal lover that I was, I chose wolves. These beautiful creatures have held a place in my heart, as well as the heart of money others, for as long as I can remember.

   When I made that essay, I was appalled at what I read. Horrified, really. I remember the feeling of my stomach dropping as I found footage of hunters -- if one could generously call them that -- chasing these beautiful creatures down from a helicopter for miles, only stopping to riddle them with shotgun rounds when the creatures were too tired to go any further.

   I noticed the sad cycle of state officials putting forth bills to reduce the wolf population to near-extinction, then realize their mistake and reintroduce the wolves back into the wild, only to foolishly decimate their population once more years later.

   It’s a cycle that needs to end.

   In May, Idaho put forth yet another law to call for the culling of wolves. This time, the goal is to eliminate nearly 90% of the state’s wolf population.

   So, why is this such a big deal? Why am I so especially concerned with this species? Aren’t wolves just a predator? What about the prey species’ populations?

   Well, to begin with, wolves are a keystone species. They have a great positive effect on biodiversity, aid habitat regrowth, and they form a sort of balance in the areas they inhabit; staving off other predators such as coyotes, which then allows other species such as foxes and even pronghorn antelope.

   What can we do to help?

   Write letters to Idaho state lawmakers. Write to the President of the United States and ask to have wolves added BACK to the Endangered Species list. Sign petitions, spread the word, make a roar, make a ruckus! Make noise! Be loud and be obstinate!

   Idaho State Lawmakers

Office of the Governor (Brad Little) State Capitol PO Box 83720 Boise, ID 83720 Phone [phone] | Fax: [phone]

State Senate’s Office P.O. Box 83720 Boise, ID 83720-0081 Phone: [phone] | Fax: [phone]

House of Representatives  P.O. Box 83720 Boise, ID 83720-0038 Phone: [phone] | Fax: [phone]

Legislative Services Office P.O. Box 83720 Boise, ID 83720-0054 Phone: [phone]

   Petitions

End Idaho’s Plan to Kill 90% Of Its Wolf Population | Change.org Stop the Idaho Wolf Cull - SB1211 | Change.org

   Organizations

Save Our Wolves California Wolf Center Endangered Wolf Center The Wolf Conservation Center

[briarpatch-kids]

I have REALLY mixed feelings on that wolf cull petition. Wolves were reintroduced to Idaho about 25 years ago, but they're a stronger, larger, and more aggressive type than originally lived here and the population has exploded because of that. They're actually becoming a genuine danger, unlike the mountain lions, bears, and other predators people living in that area deal with on the regular. It's less of a "these are predators we must kill them" cull, and more of a "Oh shit we put down like 20 and now there's over a thousand, better do something quick!" type cull.

[qupritsuvwix]

Sweden allows nearly 10% of wolf population to be killed. The government wants an even more drastic cull | CNN

Sweden began its annual wolf hunt on Thursday, allowing nearly 10% of the endangered species population to be killed, as conservationists ra

[auressea]

Wildlife 'management' is an oxymoron.

BC SPCA urges Canadians to take action against inhumane wildlife poisoning

March 10, 2021

The BC SPCA is urging Canadians to sign a Federal e-petition to end wildlife poisoning by banning the use of strychnine, Compound 1080, and sodium cyanide. These three poisons are known as “predacides” and are allowed to be used in Canada to control large predators (wolves, coyotes, and bears) for the purposes of protecting livestock, vulnerable wildlife species, or the health and safety of people in remote areas.

[allthecanadianpolitics]

Alberta continues controversial wolf cull as part of caribou recovery

Hervieux said the wolf cull fits in with the plans, noting they will kill between 100 and 200 wolves each year in the west central area of the province alone.

Despite ongoing criticism, the Alberta government is continuing with its wolf cull for another three years in an ongoing effort to save endangered caribou.

The province has just closed a request for proposal for a helicopter to continue a program to track, capture and fit caribou and wolves with radio collars through the use of net-gunning between October and March each year.

It also includes shooting wolves from the helicopter.

Continue Reading.

[allthecanadianpolitics]

Alberta is Still Slaughtering Wolves Because It Doesn’t Know How To Say ‘No’ to Industry

The government has commissioned the killing of well over 1,000 wolves in the past decade.

Since 2005, Alberta's government has offed 1,360 wolves, mostly shooting them down from helicopters.

Aerial shooting caused 84 percent of deaths during that timespan, according to Dave Hervieux, the province's caribou management specialist. Poisoning by strychnine-tainted meat accounted for the remainder. Because wolves are objectively the fucking coolest furry animals asides from Ewoks, the situation has devolved into quite the controversy, with many environmental organizations arguing that wolves are being scapegoated and murdered for the destructive byproducts of industrial activities.

The reason for the ongoing massacre circles back, most predictably, to the province's encouragement of hyper-accelerated resource development over the last decade.

Unfortunately, such capitalist frivolities have come at the expense of many woodland caribou, especially in the Little Smoky and A La Peche ranges, located in west-central Alberta near Jasper National Park. And the rapid demise of the reindeer relatives—with the Little Smoky range's caribou population annually declining by between 10 and 20 percent from the late 1990s to mid-2000s—is very much a holy-fuck-our-pet-canary-just-died-from-carbon-monoxide-poisoning moment.

Continue Reading.

[allthecanadianpolitics]

Maybe you or your followers could help me out with this? What's the problem with the wolf cull? Isn't population control good to keep everything in check? Like you wouldn't want overpopulation problems that would upset the balance of nature or whatever right? Idk my brothers family hunts a lot so I'm struggling to understand the other side of this argument.

Because Scientists say that it won’t save the caribou (that is the BC government’s justification for the cull)

Wolf cull will not save threatened Canadian caribou

This isn’t about overpopulation. The Wolves in BC are actually nearly endangered themselves. The BC government is saying its necessary to keep the BC Caribou alive (which are critically endangered), but they’re ignoring the fact that the wolves are not the cause of their decline. Things like loss of habitat due to resource development are. But The BC Liberals aren’t interested in actually getting to the root of the problem. Also we should never jump to killing things as a response to a problem.

From the article:

The Little Smoky caribou population, which had been crashing, stabilized — but did not grow. Yet Hervieux says that ending the wolf kills is not an option. “If predator management stopped, the caribou would be done,” even if industrial activity halted, he argues. He adds that it might take 30 years for the boreal forest to regrow to the point at which caribou would no longer be at a disadvantage.

The situation presents an ethical quandary, says Dan MacNulty, a wolf biologist at Utah State University in Logan. “What is better, killing off these wolves or watching these caribou blink out because of our appetite for cheap oil and gas?” he asks.

Conservationists in Alberta reluctantly supported the wolf kill programme when it began, says Carolyn Campbell, a conservation specialist at the Alberta Wilderness Association in Calgary. But her group later stopped its support for the programme because because drilling and logging continued, posing other threats to caribou. “It is a completely unethical approach to just declare a war on wolves when they are a symptom and not a root cause,” Campbell says.

[allthecanadianpolitics]

Wildlife Defence League calls for an end to the B.C. wolf cull

For the second year, the Wildlife Defence League is putting pressure on Bighorn Helicopters to stop participating in the wolf cull

The Wildlife Defence League stepped up pressure Wednesday against British Columbia’s Liberal government and Bighorn helicopters over the province’s controversial wolf cull.

Members of the B.C.-based conservation organization dropped a banner in a forest clearcut in B.C.’s South Selkirk region. Read from the air, the banner demands that the government and Bighorn Helicopters “stop killing wolves.”

“Bighorn Helicopters is responsible for the slaughter of over 1,000 wolves in the last decade,” said Tommy Knowles, campaign director for the Wildlife Defence League.

“They continue this despicable legacy of killing wolves, including mothers and pups, through their role in the government-sponsored, taxpayer-funded wolf cull.”

The Wildlife Defence League alleges that Bighorn Helicopters shot some 1,000 wolves in Alberta in wolf cull efforts in that province.

“Simply put, they are bounty hunters for wolves and have left a trail of blood in their wake,” the Wildlife Defence League declares on their Facebook page.

Clay Wilson, president of Cranbrook-based, B.C. Bighorn Helicopters, could not be reached for comment.

In January 2015, the B.C. government launched a multi-year wolf kill program in the South Peace and South Selkirk regions.

The program will kill nearly 500 wolves and cost taxpayers approximately $2.2 million. The program is entering its second year. During the first year some 80 wolves were killed.

Continue Reading.