Friends of Animals Joins B.C. Wolf Protection Pack, Letters Needed!
Friends of Animals has joined a growing coalition
of groups in speaking up for wolves, as the BC government works to reduce or
eliminate the already few measures protecting wolves in BC. These wolves are
quickly running out of habitat, and are scapegoats for human-caused animal
community decline, as we’re seeing with caribou. The BC Government maintains
that wolves are responsible, despite the fact that BC Government ‘management’
has been an abysmal failure, and caribou populations continue to decline.
Clearly it’s our use of caribou habitat, with projects like the oil sands being
the real culprit.
Below is an Action Alert from coalition
organizer Sadie Parr - let’s tell the BC Government that wolves need
protection, and that we humans need to contain and limit habitat destruction.
ACTION
ALERT
The BC government released a draft
management plan for wolves on November 14th that is heavy on
management but lacking conservation, ecology, and ethics. The proposed plan supports the:
·
Elimination of
wolves where they overlap with ranchers
·
Machine gunning of
wolves where caribou herds are in severe decline
·
Continued
sterilization of wolves when a decade of this has not increased caribou numbers
·
Ongoing slaughter
of wolves through lax hunting and trapping regulations (no bag limits, no specific
tag required, year-round killing in some regions)
The
draft plan needs to be changed! Your
voice is NEEDED. Current wolf
management in BC is extremely outdated.
What’s missing from the plan? The
incredible social nature and family bonds shared among this intelligent
species. Many wolf biologists argue that allowing wolves to express their
natural social behaviour benefits the wider ecosystem as well as wolves. The BC government wants to kill wolves for
sport, to appease ranchers, and to help save endangered species. The number of wolves being killed across the
province is at an all-time high since recording began.
Wolf biologist Dr. Linda Rutledge states:
“We
have no idea the extent of the impact that repeatedly killing over 25% of a
wolf population has on their evolutionary trajectory. But it’s dangerous to think that you can
manipulate them so intensively and have negligible consequences.”
Top predators are among the most
outstanding achievements of wilderness, evolving over hundreds of
centuries. The social structure of wolf
packs has evolved with this. It is the wolf pack that is the top predator, not the individual
wolf. Wolves are more than mere
numbers. Their social bonds and kin-based families define what it means to be a
wolf. Management plans need to take this into account!
The BC governments’ draft proposal brings
us back to a time of fear-mongering.
Wolves are being killed through hunting, trapping, livestock concerns,
failing caribou herds, and on transportation routes across the majority of the
province. Extended family members of
wolf packs are often butchered in a human-dominated landscape. We can do better this! Do not allow our ecosystems to become
impoverished due to fear and mismanagement.
Speak against this bloodshed.
Although wolves require an adequate prey
base, the defining factor in wolf persistence is protection from humans. Aldo Leopold learned long ago that “Only the mountain has lived long enough to
listen objectively to the howl of a wolf”. None is so hated; none so
misunderstood.
Conservation
groups across the province have a vision
for a better BC for wolves, wildlife & people.
WHAT
TO ASK FOR
1. Extend the deadline for public input to
January 30.
2. NO helicopter killing or sterilization of
wolves.
3. NO leghold traps, snares or baiting.
4. Return to former species
licence, quotas, bag limits, restricted seasons, and mandatory reporting of
kills for hunting wolves.
5. A decision and statement that lethal
predator control is NOT an option for the recovery of mountain caribou and a
stop to the Quesnell Highland wolf sterilization and removal project.
6. A provincial management plan for wolves
that considers the social stability of
packs as well as population size to ensure the long term conservation of the
species in its most natural form.
7. A commitment to reduce wolf-livestock-human
conflicts through prevention, and provision of educational initiatives and
incentives for responsible husbandry practices.
8. Protect
large tracts of habitat for wolves and their prey. Ensure that protected areas are large enough
to support multiple wolf families with no hunting/trapping allowed.
Conservation of wolves and the wild habitat
they thrive upon has even been linked to stopping climate change. Indeed,
wolves maintain biodiversity in ecosystems, which are thus better able to
handle, as well as buffer, the effects of changes in nature. The ecosystem services provided by a healthy
environment, such as water and air purification, cannot be matched by a dollar
value as we cannot replace these necessary services if we tried. A better BC for all includes a future with
iconic predators that Canadians identify with; management of our natural
resources in an ethical and sustainable way; clean water and air, and wild
spaces that can be explored by foot only.
Many conservation groups are opposed to
this plan, including Pacific Wild, Valhalla Wilderness Society, Raincoast
Conservation Foundation, The Association of Protection of Furbearing Animals,
Lifeforce Foundation, Northern Lights Wolf Centre, World Temperate Rainforest
Network, Peter A Dettling Wilderness Education Centre, Friends of Animals and
likely many more to come as they learn about this horrendous proposal! PLEASE ADD YOUR VOICE!
“History has shown us that if deliberate efforts are not made to
conserve large carnivores they are doomed.”
–Hummel and Pettigrew
Are we
taking these steps? Speak out for BC's wolves. Voice your concern.
Public input deadline is December 5. It's easy to submit your comments at: http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/fw/public-consultation/grey-wolf/
Or contact:
Honourable
Steve Thomson
PO BOX
9049 Stn. Prov. Govt.
Victoria,
BC
V8W 9E2
Telephone:
250 387-6240
Fax: 250
387-1040
Steve.Thomson@gov.bc.ca or steve.thomson.mla@leg.bc.ca
“By remaining silent, we
allow others to prevail” – Martin Luther King
Thank you for your howls!
Please cc. SadieParrwolfpact@gmail.com and on letters sent if possible.
Most sincerely, Sadie Parr
===
Additionally, there are a couple online petitions you can sign:
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/930/233/344/stop-the-bc-wolf-cull/
and:
http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/stop-the-british-columbia-wolf-hunt.html
Dave Shishkoff
Canadian Correspondent
Friends of Animals
Web Site: http://FriendsofAnimals.org
Victoria: http://TheVictoriaVegan.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2496490922
Twitter: http://Twitter.com/FoA_Victoria
FoA Vegan Starter Guide PDF: http://bit.ly/foa-vsg
