B.C. declares open season on wolves of the Chilcotin
It's irresponsible to vilify animal to aid cattle, critics say
By Larry Pynn, Vancouver Sun August 3, 2011
Some B.C. ranchers say the wolf population must be kept in check to protect livestock.
The B.C. government has declared open season on wolves in the Cariboo region to benefit cattle ranchers, a move that critics contend is unjustifiable and based on politics, not science.
Under new wildlife regulations, there is no closed season and no bag limit on hunting wolves in 10 management units in the Cariboo region, which ranges to 100 Mile House, Williams Lake, Quesnel and the Chilcotin.
An annual hunting bag limit of three wolves is typical in B.C.
The changes also allow for unlimited trapping of wolves on private land with leghold traps in nine management units from April 1 to Oct. 14. Trapping normally takes place in winter.
Jennifer McLarty, spokeswoman for the Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations, said in a statement that the changes are meant to help cattle ranchers protect their herds from wolves.
"Anecdotal information from ranchers, stakeholders, ministry staff, and many local first nations suggests that wolf populations in the Cariboo region are at historically high levels and are having significant predatory impacts on livestock," she said.
"Our biologists have determined that the Cariboo wolf population is healthy and more than able to sustain these new hunting and trapping opportunities."
McLarty added there are no conservation concerns related to wolves, and that "they are extremely difficult to hunt and trap and their population growth and dispersal rates are higher than those of other carnivores."
But independent biologists strongly disagree with the provincial wolf kill program.
Paul Paquet, who has extensively studied wolves on the B.C. coast, described the ministry's comments as "woefully ignorant" and said wolves are easily trapped and hunted by those experienced at it.
He added that the "dubious claim" that wolves are at historic high levels is unsubstantiated.
"At best, this effort to kill more wolves and presumably protect livestock is politically inspired seat-of-the-pants management."
He noted that predator control programs that kill wolves indiscriminately "usually result in more predation on livestock rather than less" due to "disruption of wolf pack social dynamics and the breakdown of territories."
Wayne McCrory, a biologist with the Valhalla Wilderness Society who has worked in the Chilcotin, said "it is irresponsible management which allows the wolf to be vilified and used as a scapegoat."
He said wolves often feed after the fact on cattle that have died from "disease, sickness, injury and eating poisonous plants like larkspur," adding wolves should be "recognized as an important part of the predator-prey ecosystem and having some value to tourism."
While he acknowledges that wolves occasionally attack or kill livestock and sometimes even domestic horses, those are cases where livestock compensation should kick in.
"I sympathize with many of the local ranchers," McCrory added.
"It is a hardscrabble life out there in the Chilcotin for families struggling to live off the land, but I think there is a much better, proactive way to handle livestock depredations than the archaic approach being used today."
Kevin Boon, general manager of the B.C. Cattlemen's Association, said in Kamloops that a provincial compensation program provides up to 80 per cent of the value of cattle lost to wolves, but only after a conservation officer has verified the kill. The officer then places traps in the area to prevent further losses.
Boon estimated ranchers make claims in only about 20 per cent of cases, choosing instead to accept the losses as part of doing business, which mainly occurs on Crown range land.
"It's not to say we don't need or want wolves," he said. "But we need to keep the population in check."
