Please take Action for Canada Wolves. Sample letter & Petitions

Wolves in Alberta

Thousands of wolves stand to be killed in Alberta as part of the federal government's new plan to sustain caribou in the oilsands area, environmental researchers say.

The government of Alberta is planning to initiate a large-scale wolf slaughter, according to DeSmogblog. An estimated 6,000 wolves will be gunned down from helicopters above, or killed by poison strychnine bait planted deep in the forest.

July 2011, Environment Canada released its long-awaited draft recovery plan for perilous herds of woodland caribou.

It said that many of the caribou herds in Canada were in satisfactory shape, but in northern Alberta and parts of British Columbia, the situation is dire. Almost all the Alberta herds are classified as "very unlikely" to survive.
And while the report does not dwell on using an extended and intensive wolf cull to protect fragile caribou populations, it's clearly one of the few options left for the Alberta herds.

It would be a key stop-gap measure while the natural habitat is slowly repaired over the coming decades — likely used in conjunction with other strategies such as allowing increased hunting of deer and moose, who share the caribou habitat.
Environment Canada's research shows that 100 wolves would need to die for every four caribou calves saved.

Researchers at the Pembina Institute figure that about 6,000 wolves will have to be culled every five years, if a smaller project in the Little Smoky River area is any guide.

500 wolves have already been killed in the last 5 years in northwestern Alberta (in the Little Smoky herd’s range), without halting habitat destruction.


Read more:
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/federal-recovery-plan-caribou-suggests-thousands-wolves-stand-182338958.html

Other links
http://www.edmontonjournal.com/news/Trappers+outfitters+angered+senseless+slaughter+wolves/6200698/story.html

http://www.vancouverobserver.com/sustainability/2012/02/14/killing-fields-oil-sands-developments-casualties-fort-mcmurray-alberta

http://e360.yale.edu/feature/alberta_canada_energy_boom_places_wolves_in_the_crosshairs/2459/

http://www.globalanimal.org/2012/02/09/canada-picks-caribou-over-wolves-take-action/65555/

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/environment/la-me-gs-canadian-response-to-caribou-decline-kill-wolves-20120209,0,2852497.story

http://www.vancouverobserver.com/sustainability/2012/02/14/killing-fields-oil-sands-developments-casualties-fort-mcmurray-alberta
http://www.edmontonjournal.com/technology/Senseless+slaughter+doesn+stop+wolves/6202284/story.html

http://open.salon.com/blog/steven_rockford/2012/02/20/tar_sands_kill_caribou

http://www.cbc.ca/video/#/Shows/1221254309/ID=2200604521

PETITIONS

https://secure.nrdconline.org/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=2789&__utma=57662376.2138665522.1337055198.1341125613.1341125685.23&__utmb=57662376.6.10.1341125685&__utmc=57662376&__utmx=-&__utmz=57662376.1341125613.22.8.utmcsr%3Dnrdc.org|ut

http://www.credoaction.com/campaign/tar_sands_wolves/?rc=homepage

http://www.change.org/petitions/canadian-wildlife-officials-stop-the-poisoning-of-wolves-over-tar-sands-in-canada

http://www.change.org/petitions/environment-canada-tell-canada-to-stop-the-wolf-slaughter

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/169/stop-killing-canadas-wolves/

http://forcechange.com/13664/tell-canada-to-stop-poisoning-wolves/

http://www.change.org/petitions/alberta-sustainable-resource-development-stop-the-culling-of-albertas-wild-wolf-populations

https://online.nwf.org/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=1569

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/stop-wolves-to-be-poisoned-over-tar-sands/

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/2/stop-wolf-poisoning-and-aerial-shooting-in-canada/

http://forcechange.com/11690/dont-slaughter-wolves-for-human-caused-problems/

http://www.greenpeace.org/canada/en/campaigns/forests/boreal/Get-involved/Stop-scapegoating-wolves/

http://www.change.org/petitions/save-wildlife-and-nature-in-alberta-canada

http://soe.salsalabs.com/o/1/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=258&track=2012_0309_Wolf_Killing_Alert

http://act.credoaction.com/campaign/tar_sands_wolves/?rc=fb_share1

POLL

http://www.cbc.ca/news/yourcommunity/2012/02/should-wolves-be-culled-to-protect-the-woodland-caribou.html

Wolves in British Columbia

As of mid June this year, wolves in the Cariboo Region of British Columbia have been exposed to even more threats:

Bag limits were removed so that hunters and trappers can kill as many wolves as they want and the hunting and trapping season was extended from 9.5 months to year-round. This means that wolves can be killed in the summer months when their young are with them and their coats are not even used. This type of killing is barbaric and senseless. It must be stopped. It can, if you will help by speaking out against it. Demand the BC government stop this unnecessary killing.

Recent government cuts to the Predator Prevention and Compensation Program have lead to badly informed ranchers taking things into their own hands at perceived threats from wolves and other predators. Insufficient government money has been invested in educating ranchers about responsible and predator-friendly husbandry practices, nor the importance of wolves ecologically. Neither subsidies nor incentives have been provided (such as guardian dog grant programs, or rebates for electric fencing). This is contrary the help ranchers receive when protecting crops from ungulates such as deer and elk feeding on them.

It is within this same region, wildlife management unit five, that wolves are being experimentally sterilized and killed in government-hired trap-lines in the name of mountain caribou recovery. This year, the government plans to kill fifteen wolves and sterilize another ten in a very small portion of region five called the Quesnell Highlands. Everywhere surrounding is now OPEN SEASON UNFAIR GAME – BAITING IS ALLOWED AND WOLVES WITH PUPS CAN BE KILLED. Apparently current decision makers do not know about the social bonds that wolf families share, nor that indiscriminate killing of wolves as a reaction to conflicts with livestock does NOT HELP the situation for livestock producers, as decades of wolf and coyote bounties across North America have proven.

Source: Canadian Wolf Coalition

PETITIONS:

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/prowolf/?utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=button

http://www.petitiononline.com/cull2002/petition.html

http://www.kinshipcircle.org/letter_library/letter_new3.asp?LetterID=1930

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/169/stop-killing-canadas-wolves/

Québec
http://www.change.org/petitions/ftgq-et-gouvernement-du-qu%C3%A9bec-stop-wolves-trapping

SAMPLE LETTER

Dear Sir/Madame,

I am writing in to voice my opinion against wolf control programs in the name of caribou recovery where long term habitat protection is not being implemented. Human activity is the number one factor responsible for the declining caribou populations in Canada. We must prevent and limit logging, gas and mineral exploration and extraction, road building, snowmobiling and backcountry activities that destroy habitat, fragment herds and create snow pack. We cannot blame the wolf for feeding on caribou if humans have made them more susceptible to predators through their activity.

 

Wolves are an important species in our forests. They are a keystone species, essential in helping to maintain balance and biodiversity within ecosystems. The destruction of wolves is unacceptable and can only result in further disruption of the delicate balance between predators and prey.

I do not support increased wolf harvests, sterilization programs, nor wolf culls . Sacrificing one species to save another demonstrates poor and outdated wildlife management.  Caribou populations have continued to decline where predator control programs have begun, indicating habitat protection measures must be stronger and enforced.  Culling wolves in an area only acts to open up the territory and other wolves may soon move in and continue to predate on the dwindling herds. 

I fully support the recovery of caribou in this province, but would like the efforts to be focused on the restoration and long-term protection of the old growth forests caribou depend on to survive. Preventing activities that disrupt the natural balance is a much more effective and long-term solution to the problem.

I also encourage adding caribou to herds that are at imminent danger of being extirpated.  This step should be a priority in recovery efforts, long before the needless killing of natural predators.  Please note that culls and shortsighted management techniques that have proven ineffective in the past will not go unnoticed.

 

Sincerely,

Name and Country

SEND TO:

premier@gov.ab.ca, gboutilier@assembly.ab.ca, pm@pm.gc.ca, Minister@ec.gc.ca, Nycole.Turmel@parl.gc.ca, bob.rae@parl.gc.ca, leader@greenparty.ca, Min@dfo-mpo.gc.ca, premier@gov.bc.ca, barry.penner.mla@leg.bc.ca

cc:. canadianwolfco@gmail.com

Please call

Environment Minister Peter Kent’s office 819-997-1441

Our brother wolves
Willing to share
Their land
But not to have
It stolen
Man unkind
Time to understand
We own nothing
Just small spaces
We borrow
We owe it to
Our creator
To give her beings
A tomorrow

Karen Lyons Kalmenson