Posted by Brad Hill on September 5, 2007 at 3:24 PM
The government of British Columbia (Canada) has loosened their already lax wolf hunting laws in a move that will encourage the wholesale slaughter of wolves. Why? It turns out that wolf predation was found to be one of the causes of the decline of the endangered Mountain Caribou. The major cause of the decline is habitat loss, primarily through the logging of old-growth forests. Were any of the other (and more major) causes of caribou decline addressed? No. So one of mankind's favourite scapegoats - the wolf - is singled out for persecution again!!
More details on my website's blog (see entry of September 5).
Posted by Steve Foss on September 5, 2007 at 8:05 PM
That's how it's been for centuries. Ignore our own impacts. Blame the wolf. Kill the wolf. Every time I feel some optimism that we've developed an essential humanity, another story like this shows how much we're willing to ignore and invent to excuse a nature far more savage than the predators we target.
No one's ever said it better than Barry Lopez in "Of Wolves and Men." Even though it's nearly 30 years old, it's a must-read for anyone who wants to approach human/wolf interaction with an open and balanced mind.
Sigh.
Posted by Roger Rouch on September 5, 2007 at 10:48 PM
"Never Cry Wolf" by Farley Mowat is one of my favorite books and a great movie, too. A must read/see for anyone one either side of the arguement. I'm surprized the debate rages on as the evidence doesn't seem to support these measures.
Posted by David Prichard on September 5, 2007 at 11:40 PM
Brad,
There is difficulties in the North with caribou, particularly the Porcupine herd. Over hunting and parasites seem to be the major causes. The NWT government has recently limited non-aboriginal hunters to two animals a year and a number of the aboriginal bands are lobbying to have hunting banned along the Dempster highway for all hunters.
Is there evidence of over hunting in B.C.?
Posted by Brad Hill on September 6, 2007 at 12:04 AM
Hi Dave,
No evidence of over-hunting - it's clearly a habitat loss issue. The mountain caribou requires old-growth forest, and it's still being logged. While predator-prey dynamics are often complex and it's rare that a predator can drive its food source to extinction, there is some evidence that indicates that the caribou's predators (wolves, cougars, and bears) are now keeping the caribou numbers low (this can only occur when the prey numbers are extremely low and the phenomenon is called a "predator pit"). So it is possible that wolf control (in the very short term), in conjunction with habitat protection and restricting motorized disturbances in the wintering grounds, are all needed to give the caribou a chance at making it. But at this time the only thing really being done is wolf control, which will be completely ineffective alone in realizing the goal of saving the caribou. So the wolves will ultimately be killed in vain...
Brad
Posted by Terry Sohl on September 21, 2007 at 4:40 PM
Same old disgusting story. Decline of fishing in the Great Lakes? CAN'T be the skads of fishermen...so...let's kill the cormorants!! Decline of fish stocks in the Northeast? Seals...kill them all!! But don't touch our fishing quotas!!
Terry you said this so well. Its all about money. Can't afford to stop logging to save the caribous' natural habitat. It would cause millions of big bucks to be lost. Can't tamper with fishing quotas. More fish caught means more money. So blame the comorants for less fish, blame the wolves for dwendling caribou and sweep the real truth under the rug. Makes me sick. This applies to all of our natural resourses not just nature. You should hear the whinning about the water crissis over here in Atlanta, while millions of gallons are still being flushed down the toilet daily.Their even willing to sacrifice the muscles that are dependant on water from Lake Lanier,so the Atlantians can pee more, wash their cars more, WOW, mankind is so selfish and spoiled. And money humgry. Oh, and another thing, don't forget about the money hungry land developers gobbling up all the natural resourses along all of our beaches.
Yep...I hear this crap all the time when talking to people out west.
"The wolves are changing the ecosystem!! We must get rid of them!!"
It could NEVER be the human race's fault, oh no. It's crazy to think that anything that naturally occurs in nature would wipe out something else UNLESS we, humans, have already done something to help that process along. Habitat loss, habitat fragmentation, loss of grazing/feeding lands. I don't think the wolves did that stuff did they? And now there are few numbers of what the wolves eat, it's not their fault, it's ours!
But as it's already been stated here before. Animals work much better as scapegoats as they can't argue with "superior beings"
I constantly ask myself just what is so superior about ruining this Earth. The world can be your oyster, that's fine, but if the oyster is dead all you got is the shell!!
News on this from a slightly different angle, but still concerning the strange and dubious measures taken to protect the mountain caribou. This is a letter from Elisabeth von Ah, a friend of mine who works on a project called Kids for Caribou (www.kidsforcaribou.org) to Valley Voice Magazine New Denver, BC.
Letter to Valley Voice Magazine New Denver, BC, December 2007
BC’s government advises endangered species recovery teams to lie
When BC’s government released its Mountain Caribou Recovery Plan in Oct.2007
announcing to protect 2.2 million hectares of mountain caribou range from logging and
road building it looked like a step into the right direction – but only at the first glance.
Giving it a closer look it unmasks itself as an alibi and smart camouflage plan to continue
on the current path of destruction.
The Wilderness Committee, Vancouver and Ecojustice, formerly Sierra Legal, just
received (through Freedom of Information request) a confidential and internal BC
government document which uncovers the practices of interference this government has
no scruple to perform.
“This paper directs BC endangered species recovery teams, which are established to
provide expert scientific advice on recovering species at risk, to not identify critical
habitat in species recovery strategies. The document instructs them instead to say in the
recovery strategy that there is insufficient scientific knowledge to identify critical habitat, “
it reads on the Wilderness Committee’s website. (www.wildernesscommittee.org)
On Dec.5.2007 Wilderness Committee and Ecojustice submitted a “Request for review
of all British Columbia recovery strategies prepared pursuant to the Species at Risk Act”
to John Baird, Federal Minister of Environment, to review BC government’s recovery
strategies. This speaks out for itself.
Sad is, too, that BC’s government was able to get some environmental groups on their
side in what they call a “Unique Collaboration”. The Mountain Caribou Recovery Plan
was just released with so many questions open about the details, emails were sent out
with “Write thank you letters to Mr. Campbell” and invitations to “Celebrate this victory in
mountain caribou parties”. For me this does more harm to the mountain caribou recovery
than the worst recovery plan. It nourishes the public opinion that we do not have to worry
about the survival of the mountain caribou any more and moves public interest onto
other matters, the Olympics for instance.
Environmental protection is the duty of a government, not an act of generosity.
Unfortunately these who will pay the price for this “Greenwash” as Valhalla Wilderness
Watch calls it, cannot be asked. They will be the mountain caribou, losing home and
ground and most likely going extinct, the bears and wolves killed under “predator
management”, the elk, moose and deer killed under “primary prey of caribou predator
management”.
In March 2007 the British Columbia Snowmobile Federation (BCSF) received $50.000 to
“develop best management practices for snowmobiling”. This shows the preferences and
the strategy. It may only take few more years and wild animals might be gone in large
numbers – giving right of way to loggers, developers, snow mobilers, heli skiers, hydro
electric power generators.
“Not a lot surprises me, but this directive (the above mentioned confidential and internal
document) is astounding. This is a blueprint for extinction for BC’s endangered species,”
said Gwen Barlee, Wilderness Committee Policy Director. I fear he will be right if not WE
raise our voices in large numbers. I can’t help it, but in situations like this I ask myself,
what Colleen McCrory would have done.
Elisabeth von Ah December 11.2007
Kids for Caribou
www.kidsforcaribou.org
Rob, good question. The caribou is quite a special animal and does have some strategies that set it quite apart from moose and elk.
Mountain caribou eat lichen that grow on tree branches. Caribou farther to the north browse more on lichen on the ground, but for the Mountain caribou at least, it would be easy to see that a lost tree is a lost source of food.
But there's a lot more to it than that. Removing some trees might not sound so bad, but even that can have huge effects. To remove a few trees, big machines generally have to move into an area. That means roads. Even a bady kept logging road is a road and opens up an area to hunters (poachers) and tourists, each having a lot of impact on the caribou. What's more, even small openings lead to new vegetation that moose and elk browse upon. This means that moose and elk venture into places where they have hardly been before, because they simply couldn't find enough food there before the cut. When moose and elk lead, wolf, coyote and cougar follow. These large predators did not have much reason to go into the caribou habitat before that either, because caribou are usually too wide-spread and unreliable in their movements to serve as a complete food source. With moose and elk present, the predators can manage to set more permanent foot on the ground in caribou habitat and thus also have an impact on the caribou population if they chance to meet one.
All those things are new to the caribou and its survival strategies are not adapted to the changes.
Unfortunately it is not just the removal of a few trees, even though some loggers try to practise that principle. In the recent past (decades or even century roughly) enormous stretches of oldgrowth forest (which offers the most lichen for caribou and in the good old days the protection against predators) have been cut down. Only a fraction of original mountain caribou habitat remains. Where habitat disappears, species die out. It's as simple as that.
So the human influence is clearly the biggest threat to the caribou. If we continue to destroy its habitat, the outcome is inevitably that the mountain caribou will disappear. At this point of time, it might already be irreversible.
So what about the predator hunt? Because we opened up the area for moose and elk and thus for large predators, the carnivores are now a direct threat to the few remaining caribou. Killing wolves and cougars mostly, might just give the caribou some breathing space. But it would be mopping with the tap open, because it fails to address the real problem: habitat loss and disturbance. But a lot would be required to solve that problem: a completely changed logging practise, closing areas to tourism activities like heli skiing and snowmobiling, heavy punishments for poachers, making large areas into caribou habitat again to connect the few remaining sub-populations... THAT would work, but it would be bad for profit and development in the short run...
Yep, I might have been more careful making a distinction between hunters and poachers. I definitely see a big difference between legal hunters and poachers. In this case I meant that poachers are the really big problem.
However, I do think that legal hunting is a problem too. Don't get me wrong, I am not condemning you, because I have no idea how you hunt. I know a few people that hunt sustainably and if that's your way too, you're fine by me. However, note the difference between legal and sustainable. We in Western Europe have completely exterminated our large predators. That was done completely legally, but having led to the extinction of several species in our parts, calling it sustainable would be a laugh.
I am convinced that there are many many examples of legal hunting these days that are really unsustainable. The hunts for wolves and bears in North America these days, notably those that are so hot in the news currently, are legal, but I have no doubt that they are far from sustainable.
If you want to discuss hunting, I'm game. However, if it's going to be about hunting as a whole and not really linked to caribou, maybe we should start a different thread for it.
Cheers!
Posted by Larry Fischer on November 25, 2008 at 8:22 AM
All I can say in this debate, and similar ones, going on for years, is that NO ONE really KNOWS all the factors associated with population dynamics.
All we can do is the best we can do with what information we have. That's just the way it is and the way it will alsway be and that's why records are kept. But in the end be careful when you spout off, even if you've written a book because, "He who knows not that he knows not, knows not; He that knows that he knows not, knows"....
And, for what it's worth, it is my strong opinion that caribou eats better than wolf. I've partken of the former but not the latter. The griz I've eaten wasn't bad, though.... backstrap boiled, then floured and fried, along with potatoes and gravy.
Regardless, waste not--want not.
Socrates
the fisch
Posted by robert kempton on February 9, 2010 at 10:29 AM
We are starting to see wolfs in N.Utah , the wolfs are be a big problem all over . There is a reason there were almost gone . and for good reason !! I bet any seen around here die of lead poison !! LOL
http://www.saveelk.com/
Posted by Carl Donohue on February 10, 2010 at 5:56 PM
Hey Robert,
Care to elaborate on specifically how the 'wolfs are be a big problem all over'?
Discussion
13 repliesMore details on my website's blog (see entry of September 5).
No one's ever said it better than Barry Lopez in "Of Wolves and Men." Even though it's nearly 30 years old, it's a must-read for anyone who wants to approach human/wolf interaction with an open and balanced mind.
Sigh.
There is difficulties in the North with caribou, particularly the Porcupine herd. Over hunting and parasites seem to be the major causes. The NWT government has recently limited non-aboriginal hunters to two animals a year and a number of the aboriginal bands are lobbying to have hunting banned along the Dempster highway for all hunters.
Is there evidence of over hunting in B.C.?
No evidence of over-hunting - it's clearly a habitat loss issue. The mountain caribou requires old-growth forest, and it's still being logged. While predator-prey dynamics are often complex and it's rare that a predator can drive its food source to extinction, there is some evidence that indicates that the caribou's predators (wolves, cougars, and bears) are now keeping the caribou numbers low (this can only occur when the prey numbers are extremely low and the phenomenon is called a "predator pit"). So it is possible that wolf control (in the very short term), in conjunction with habitat protection and restricting motorized disturbances in the wintering grounds, are all needed to give the caribou a chance at making it. But at this time the only thing really being done is wolf control, which will be completely ineffective alone in realizing the goal of saving the caribou. So the wolves will ultimately be killed in vain...
Brad
Ugh.
"The wolves are changing the ecosystem!! We must get rid of them!!"
It could NEVER be the human race's fault, oh no. It's crazy to think that anything that naturally occurs in nature would wipe out something else UNLESS we, humans, have already done something to help that process along. Habitat loss, habitat fragmentation, loss of grazing/feeding lands. I don't think the wolves did that stuff did they? And now there are few numbers of what the wolves eat, it's not their fault, it's ours!
But as it's already been stated here before. Animals work much better as scapegoats as they can't argue with "superior beings"
I constantly ask myself just what is so superior about ruining this Earth. The world can be your oyster, that's fine, but if the oyster is dead all you got is the shell!!
Letter to Valley Voice Magazine New Denver, BC, December 2007
BC’s government advises endangered species recovery teams to lie
When BC’s government released its Mountain Caribou Recovery Plan in Oct.2007
announcing to protect 2.2 million hectares of mountain caribou range from logging and
road building it looked like a step into the right direction – but only at the first glance.
Giving it a closer look it unmasks itself as an alibi and smart camouflage plan to continue
on the current path of destruction.
The Wilderness Committee, Vancouver and Ecojustice, formerly Sierra Legal, just
received (through Freedom of Information request) a confidential and internal BC
government document which uncovers the practices of interference this government has
no scruple to perform.
“This paper directs BC endangered species recovery teams, which are established to
provide expert scientific advice on recovering species at risk, to not identify critical
habitat in species recovery strategies. The document instructs them instead to say in the
recovery strategy that there is insufficient scientific knowledge to identify critical habitat, “
it reads on the Wilderness Committee’s website. (www.wildernesscommittee.org)
On Dec.5.2007 Wilderness Committee and Ecojustice submitted a “Request for review
of all British Columbia recovery strategies prepared pursuant to the Species at Risk Act”
to John Baird, Federal Minister of Environment, to review BC government’s recovery
strategies. This speaks out for itself.
Sad is, too, that BC’s government was able to get some environmental groups on their
side in what they call a “Unique Collaboration”. The Mountain Caribou Recovery Plan
was just released with so many questions open about the details, emails were sent out
with “Write thank you letters to Mr. Campbell” and invitations to “Celebrate this victory in
mountain caribou parties”. For me this does more harm to the mountain caribou recovery
than the worst recovery plan. It nourishes the public opinion that we do not have to worry
about the survival of the mountain caribou any more and moves public interest onto
other matters, the Olympics for instance.
Environmental protection is the duty of a government, not an act of generosity.
Unfortunately these who will pay the price for this “Greenwash” as Valhalla Wilderness
Watch calls it, cannot be asked. They will be the mountain caribou, losing home and
ground and most likely going extinct, the bears and wolves killed under “predator
management”, the elk, moose and deer killed under “primary prey of caribou predator
management”.
In March 2007 the British Columbia Snowmobile Federation (BCSF) received $50.000 to
“develop best management practices for snowmobiling”. This shows the preferences and
the strategy. It may only take few more years and wild animals might be gone in large
numbers – giving right of way to loggers, developers, snow mobilers, heli skiers, hydro
electric power generators.
“Not a lot surprises me, but this directive (the above mentioned confidential and internal
document) is astounding. This is a blueprint for extinction for BC’s endangered species,”
said Gwen Barlee, Wilderness Committee Policy Director. I fear he will be right if not WE
raise our voices in large numbers. I can’t help it, but in situations like this I ask myself,
what Colleen McCrory would have done.
Elisabeth von Ah December 11.2007
Kids for Caribou
www.kidsforcaribou.org
Mountain caribou eat lichen that grow on tree branches. Caribou farther to the north browse more on lichen on the ground, but for the Mountain caribou at least, it would be easy to see that a lost tree is a lost source of food.
But there's a lot more to it than that. Removing some trees might not sound so bad, but even that can have huge effects. To remove a few trees, big machines generally have to move into an area. That means roads. Even a bady kept logging road is a road and opens up an area to hunters (poachers) and tourists, each having a lot of impact on the caribou. What's more, even small openings lead to new vegetation that moose and elk browse upon. This means that moose and elk venture into places where they have hardly been before, because they simply couldn't find enough food there before the cut. When moose and elk lead, wolf, coyote and cougar follow. These large predators did not have much reason to go into the caribou habitat before that either, because caribou are usually too wide-spread and unreliable in their movements to serve as a complete food source. With moose and elk present, the predators can manage to set more permanent foot on the ground in caribou habitat and thus also have an impact on the caribou population if they chance to meet one.
All those things are new to the caribou and its survival strategies are not adapted to the changes.
Unfortunately it is not just the removal of a few trees, even though some loggers try to practise that principle. In the recent past (decades or even century roughly) enormous stretches of oldgrowth forest (which offers the most lichen for caribou and in the good old days the protection against predators) have been cut down. Only a fraction of original mountain caribou habitat remains. Where habitat disappears, species die out. It's as simple as that.
So the human influence is clearly the biggest threat to the caribou. If we continue to destroy its habitat, the outcome is inevitably that the mountain caribou will disappear. At this point of time, it might already be irreversible.
So what about the predator hunt? Because we opened up the area for moose and elk and thus for large predators, the carnivores are now a direct threat to the few remaining caribou. Killing wolves and cougars mostly, might just give the caribou some breathing space. But it would be mopping with the tap open, because it fails to address the real problem: habitat loss and disturbance. But a lot would be required to solve that problem: a completely changed logging practise, closing areas to tourism activities like heli skiing and snowmobiling, heavy punishments for poachers, making large areas into caribou habitat again to connect the few remaining sub-populations... THAT would work, but it would be bad for profit and development in the short run...
I hope that answers some questions!
Thanks for the compliment.
Yep, I might have been more careful making a distinction between hunters and poachers. I definitely see a big difference between legal hunters and poachers. In this case I meant that poachers are the really big problem.
However, I do think that legal hunting is a problem too. Don't get me wrong, I am not condemning you, because I have no idea how you hunt. I know a few people that hunt sustainably and if that's your way too, you're fine by me. However, note the difference between legal and sustainable. We in Western Europe have completely exterminated our large predators. That was done completely legally, but having led to the extinction of several species in our parts, calling it sustainable would be a laugh.
I am convinced that there are many many examples of legal hunting these days that are really unsustainable. The hunts for wolves and bears in North America these days, notably those that are so hot in the news currently, are legal, but I have no doubt that they are far from sustainable.
If you want to discuss hunting, I'm game. However, if it's going to be about hunting as a whole and not really linked to caribou, maybe we should start a different thread for it.
Cheers!
All we can do is the best we can do with what information we have. That's just the way it is and the way it will alsway be and that's why records are kept. But in the end be careful when you spout off, even if you've written a book because, "He who knows not that he knows not, knows not; He that knows that he knows not, knows"....
And, for what it's worth, it is my strong opinion that caribou eats better than wolf. I've partken of the former but not the latter. The griz I've eaten wasn't bad, though.... backstrap boiled, then floured and fried, along with potatoes and gravy.
Regardless, waste not--want not.
Socrates
the fisch
http://www.saveelk.com/
Care to elaborate on specifically how the 'wolfs are be a big problem all over'?
Cheers
Carl