Contest offers cash prizes for wolf kills in northeastern BC
Conservation scientists condemn cash reward for hunter who can kill biggest animal
By Larry Pynn, Vancouver Sun November 19, 2012
A privately sponsored wolf-kill contest is offering cash and other prize incentives for hunters to shoot the predators this winter in northeast BC.
Hunters who kill the largest wolves stand to receive $250 to $1,000 and up, with a booby prize of $150 for the smallest wolf and draws for prizes such as a rifle and free taxidermy work.
“It’s just kind of a social thing that’s gotten bigger every year,” said Rich Petersen, a hunter and realtor in Fort St. John who is co-sponsoring the event.
“It’s not a contest to exterminate wolves, not an organized thing where we go out and shoot every wolf in the country. If you are driving down the road and see one and you happen to shoot it and you’re in this contest, you have a chance to win something.”
Advertising for the event obtained by The Vancouver Sun depicts a snarling, vicious-looking wolf, the sort of image that hunters would not typically observe in the wild.
To read the full article, including quotes from Raincoast large carnivore scientists Dr. Chris Darimont and Dr. Paul Paquet, please visit the Vancouver Sun website.
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