B.C. extends wolf cull despite opposition

The B.C. government has extended its wolf cull program for another five years, despite opposition from many scientists and the public.

The extension of the aerial wolf reduction program, which affects 12 of the province’s 54 herds and is meant to help threatened caribou populations recover across the province, was confirmed by the Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development on Thursday.

“The science indicates that reducing wolf densities in caribou areas is one of few short-term options that will effectively reduce declining caribou populations to prevent their extirpation,” the ministry said.

“Having already lost multiple herds in the Southern Group, these measures allow us to prevent further losses.”

The extension of the wolf cull, which had been up for renewal in 2020, was delayed for two years at the province’s request.

Reaction from environmental groups was swift.

“That is not five years being the limit. It’s likely that this is going to be decades,” said Laurie McConnell, a wolf campaigner with the environmental advocacy group Pacific Wild.

McConnell said she first heard the government would extend the cull hours before in a meeting with several stakeholders, including First Nations, industry representatives and recreational groups.

According to the Ministry of Forests, nearly 1,500 wolves have been killed since the start of 2015, when the program aimed to save B.C.’s woodland caribou began.

A 2019 report from the province found the culls “will have to take place until habitat restoration and protection overcome the legacy of habitat loss.”

The province has put forward parallel plans in an attempt to bring back caribou habitat. This month, the Ministry of Forestry announced it helped fund 14 grants worth about $1.6 million to block predators from reaching caribou and transplant lichen, caribou’s preferred food. The money will also be used to plant trees affected by human activity and wildfires.

Pacific Wild conservation adviser Ian McAllister said instead of “scapegoating wolves,” the province should move to protect intact oldgrowth forests for endangered caribou and ensure fossil fuel extraction doesn’t further degrade their habitat.

“By safeguarding and restoring caribou habitat, B.C. would be doing its part in mitigating climate change while also protecting the full suite of predator-prey relationships that are being destroyed through short-term greed,” he said in a written statement.

But in Thursday’s meeting between government and stakeholders, McConnell said staff from the B.C. Caribou Recovery Program indicated deferring industrial or recreational activity in critically threatened caribou habitat was “highly unlikely.”

“If we’re still taking habitat, no amount of killing wolves will save the caribou,” she said.

The cull program comes with a financial cost.

According to Pacific Wild, the province spent $2 million in 2019 and 2020 on the program, an average cost of $4,300 per wolf — ultimately leading to the deaths of 463 animals.

The conservation group is locked in a legal battle with the province over the wolf cull. The case was brought forward after B.C. amended the Wildlife Act in January 2021 to allow wolves to be trapped with a net gun from a helicopter.

The case is still before the courts.