Wolf Conservation Program

Raincoast’s Wolf Conservation Program is built on peer-reviewed science, public education, and wildlife management reform.

Photo by Michelle Valberg.

Raincoast’s wolf initiatives are working towards shifting the provincial management of gray wolves away from a poorly-informed and exploitation-based model to one that respects the welfare of wolves and their important role in functioning ecosystems. Our ultimate goal is to end the killing of wolves in British Columbia for the purposes of predator control, trophy, and perceived competition for shared prey. 

Moving towards coexistence

The level of human-caused wolf mortality in BC can only be described as staggering. In addition to the hundreds of wolves dying at the hands of lethal control programs (government sanctioned wolf culls), the BC government estimates that some 1,200 wolves are killed annually from recreational hunting and trapping, all sanctioned and encouraged by the province. To ensure that wolves continue their wild ways amidst an uncertain future, coexistence must replace killing wolves.

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A darkly coloured wolf with black highlights walks across the sand in the intertidal zone.
Photo by Colleen Gara.

Science-based approach

Our policy recommendations and advocacy on behalf of wolves are grounded in rigorous, peer-reviewed research and conservation ethics. With our community partners, we continue to gain scientific understanding about wolves across BC. This includes work on coastal wolves – a subspecies that has been found to be genetically distinct from their inland cousins, unique to the Pacific coast. Collaborative efforts among Raincoast scientists, Indigenous Nations, organizations, and several universities are creating contemporary knowledge about this globally unique wolf-deer-salmon system.

Questions we are asking

At Raincoast, we aim to apply and advance research methods that are minimally invasive to wildlife. Accordingly, much of our wolf research hinges on obtaining information from camera traps, acoustic loggers, and samples such as hair and scats, which we collect without capturing or handling wildlife. Through our research along the central and south coasts of BC, we hope to gain a better understanding of wolves and other apex predators in anthropogenically-disturbed populations, and their interactions with prey species in salmon-bearing watersheds. Along the south coast, we are conducting initial surveillance in tributaries of the Fraser River and working collaboratively to develop this research with the local First Nation.

  • How do wolves interact with their environment during disturbance?
  • How does seasonal salmon abundance influence the distribution and behaviour of wolves in wolf-ungulate-salmon systems?
  • How do apex predators, like wolves, contribute to carbon cycling in this unique system? 
  • What are the economic and ecological benefits of wolf presence in anthropogenic landscapes?
Wolf research papers
Wolf reports and books
Hand programming a wildlife cam.
A Grizzly bear stands in the river with a giant salmon in their mouth and paws, water spalshing all about with grass and rocks in the background.

Standing our ground and recognizing a broader horizon

Applied science in its most productive form requires a commitment to acknowledging – and communicating – difficult realities.
A pack of black wolves, with a large wolf in the front, walks out through an opening in the forest.

The current situation for wolves in British Columbia

The level of human-caused wolf mortality can only be described as staggering.
A black wolf stands in profile, looking awesome, amidst the autumn leaves.

Black wolves: The beauty seen in evolution

What science tells us about wolves who evolved to be black.
A wolf lies down in the grass.

Wildlife killing contests

We have ethical responsibilities to targeted species and to biodiversity, and we need to consider the well-being of both.
Wolf crossing a road towards a snow covered forest.

Wolf Stories: Killing in the name of conservation

Ethical and welfare considerations for lethally and non-lethally controlling wild animals.
Trail camera photo of a wolf walking on the side of a creek.

Wolf Stories: Animal welfare and the evolution of animal ethics

In this article, we’ve interviewed David Fraser (C.M., Ph.D.), a Professor Emeritus in the Animal Welfare Program at the University of British Columbia. His 50-year research career has focused on the welfare and management of both free-living and captive wildlife, as well as farm and laboratory animals. In this interview, we explore the history of…
Two wolves walking in the snow.

Letter in Science states that Canada’s wolf cull subsidizes industry

British Columbia must reevaluate its caribou habitat protection policies and do better by its environment and its citizens, argues Raincoast scientists.
Coastal wolf with a salmon in its month.

Bridging science and ethics

Minimally invasive research techniques to study wolves.