To the editor;
After numerous futile attempts to get answers to questions on the current wolf kill from the appropriate government ministries and my local MLA, Terry Lake, I am resorting to local newspapers.
I am requesting answers to the following:
Why was the government not proactive in preventing the decline of the elk population to the point of near extinction?
Did the government not consider the disastrous effect of clear-cut logging, mining, residential development, ever-expanding recreational facilities and industry on the elk population?
What will be the cost in millions of dollars to the taxpayer for this proposed five-year senseless and barbaric kill?
If the wolves shot are not checked for mortality — and it will be almost impossible to do so from helicopters — are not B.C.’s animal cruelty laws being contravened?
My concern here is the long-agonizing death the wounded, the maimed and the surviving cubs will experience.
What consideration has been given to the accepted fact that the eradication of hundreds of wolves will upset nature’s delicate balance and ecosystem?
What are the consequences of this reactionary move? (There will be many — mostly negative.)
Has the government reviewed Alberta’s failed attempt at reviving its elk and caribou populations by means of a wolf cull?
As a matter of interest, a 2007 survey in Montana revealed the elk population increased from 90,000 to 120,000 in the first 12 years after wolves were returned to that U.S. state.
By 2011, the statewide estimate was more than 140,000.
There is an old Nunavut Keewatin saying: “The caribou feeds the wolf, but it is the wolf who keeps the caribou strong.”
I would counsel our legislators in Victoria to look for the truth in this statement.
This barbaric and despicable attack on wolves has no place in the 21st century.
Art Johnson
Kamloops, B.C.