.The west coast province of British Columbia has embarked on a plan to shoot wolves in what they say is an immediate action in an effort to save the few remaining caribou of the South Selkirk herd.
The South Selkirk herd is the only remaining caribou herd that crosses the border into the US.
In 2009 there were 49 animals, but now two-thirds have been killed, and biologists are blaming wolves.
Plans are for helicopters with sharpshooters to fly over the Selkirk Mountains in the south and Peace region in the north to eventually kill about 184 wolves. There are some seven herds in the northern Peace region of BC.
Tom Ethier, assistant deputy minister with the Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resources, says if the wolves are not culled, the herd will be wiped out within a few years.
Environmentalist have long said the wolves are not to blame, rather it is the fault of governments failing to protect the environment and leave untouched the large range areas critical to caribou survival.
Kootenay biologist Bob Jamieson offers another view. “If there’s 18 caribou left in the southern Selkirk herd, how much habitat do we need? If there was 200 caribou, habitat might be limiting.”
“The evidence points to the fact that predation on those herds was a significant factor,” B.C.’s Minister of Natural Resources Steve Thomson said in an interview on CBC radio.
“[That evidence has] come from inventories from work, from collaring, from monitoring. 37 per cent of the adult mortalities in the south Peace have been documented as wolf predation
Other provinces have also occasionally resorted to killing wolves to protect caribou or livestock.
For reasons beyond our control, and for an undetermined period of time, our comment section is now closed. However, our social networks remain open to your contributions.