The cry of the wolf

Globe and Mail
December 19, 2008
by Chris Darimont and Chris Genovali

With dismay we read Mark Hume’s article (B.C.’s Quiet War On Wolves – Dec.15). Emboldened by the forest industry and hunting groups, the province has demonized and made scapegoats of wolves for the decline of everything from marmots to mountain caribou.The ultimate reason why mountain caribou are endangered is because their old-growth habitat was logged and fragmented into a landscape that can neither feed them nor provide the security they need.

The relentless logging and roading has conspired to deprive mountain caribou of their preferred foods while exposing them to levels of predation to which they are incapable of adapting. These caribou might be destined for extinction, not because of what wolves and other predators are doing but because of what humans have already done.

The slaughter of wolves, or forceful removal of their reproductive organs through sterilization, is morally indefensible and we suspect the majority of Canadians would agree.

Chris Darimont, Research Scientist and Chris Genovali, Executive Director,

Raincoast Conservation, Sidney, B.C.

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