Chief calls to end moose hunt

A First Nations chief is calling on the British Columbia government to halt the moose hunt this year, arguing the historic wildfire season has caused enough trauma to the species.

Tl’etinqox Chief Joe Alphonse said the flames have charred thousands of square kilometres of habitat in the province’s Interior and hunting will only further endanger the moose population.

“Anyone who chooses to point a gun to a moose in the Chilcotin is contributing to the eventual problem of having no moose in the Chilcotin down the road,” he said.

The largest fire ever recorded in the province’s history at more than 5,210 square kilometres in size is still burning across the Chilcotin plateau, an area about 60 kilometres northwest of Williams Lake.

The province as a whole has seen a record-breaking 11,700 square kilometres scorched since April 1 and more than 150 fires continue to burn.

Alphonse said local crews had discovered two dead moose floating in a lake in an area that had been charred by fire.

But the province’s forests ministry said in a statement that there remains “only a handful of reports” of wildlife killed, including one black bear, some wild horses in the Chilcotin and a couple of moose in the Cariboo region.

Forests Minister Doug Donaldson said in an interview that none of the 40 radio collared cow moose in the region were killed due to fires, but determining the extent of the wildlife devastation is imperative.

“We’ve already instituted some tools over concerns of moose populations and we’re working closely with the Tsilqot’in national government to estimate and get a better handle and assessment of the impact that occurred because of these fires on wildlife,” he said.

The provincial government issued 2,423 limited entry hunt permits for moose this year, which the forest ministry said is a reduction from previous years.