Response to the Minister's first letter

31 October 2008

Honorable Barry Penner
Minister of the Environment

Dear Mr. Penner:

Thank you for your long awaited letter of October 2, 2008. Having carefully reviewed your letter, I take issue with a number of your statements.

Targeting the Wolf as the main predator in Mountain Caribou Recovery

The Ministry has employed two state sponsored wolf culls in the Kootenay region and the Omineca region. You state the NBL or no closed season in a number of MU's is to target the wolf that are preying on the mountain caribou. There is no mention of other mountain caribou predators (i.e. bears and cougars) nor the more serious problem of disruption to mountain caribou by snow mobilers or habitat destruction by logging, mining, and oil & gas exploration causing harmful effects upon the recovery of the mountain caribou. No, we typically just target the wolf because your ministry thinks they are an easy target.

Policy of Ministry of a Sustainable Harvest

The policy of the ministry is to provide hunting & trapping opportunities for species in which a sustainable harvest can occur. For certain species such as the wolf and the grizzly bear, this is a very outdated policy. The vast majority of BC citizens are opposed to trophy hunting.

This policy is still appropriate for hunting animals which provides sustenance for families. However, to hunt animals which have no food value, such as the wolf and the grizzly bear, is in the view of most of the public, "neanderthal".

The wolf is a "culturally significant species" particularly with the First Nations people. Their history and legends are closely connected to this wonderful animal and in my discussions with the First Nations people, they support my conservation efforts.

Wolf Inventory

In your letter you state that wolf populations are managed by using the best available science, population information and conservation objectives. Your letter states that in 1979 there was an estimated 6000 wolves in BC. Can you please provide me with source of that estimate? Was it a population census done by the Ministry or a research group? Also you state there are between 8000-9000 wolves currently in BC. Again please reference the best available science or population information which confirms these population figures.

Park Hunting

Your letter does not refute my claim that all the large provincial parks and all northern BC provincial parks allow for hunting. We also know that many of BC wolves reside in these areas.

You mention that 250 parks are closed to hunting and trapping. Can you please provide me with a list of these parks or where I can find it on the website? My suspicion is that these 250 parks are insignificant to hunting & trapping because they are very small, near urban areas or widely used by campers & hikers, therefore little chance there is any significant numbers of wildlife in these parks.

Also which 65 parks have shorter open hunting seasons? Do these shorter hunting seasons apply to wolves? Can you please explain in more detail, with particular reference to wolves, your comment that hunting & trapping in BC parks are more conservative than outside the park?

You further mention that 11 national parks are closed to hunting & trapping. By the way, your ministry has no jurisdiction over these parks but your policies indirectly affect these national parks. I mention again the topic of Mt. Assiniboine Provincial Park which is open to hunting & trapping. This park is sandwiched betwen Kootenay National Park and Banff National Park. Wildlife in these 2 national parks are safe but are not if they travel between the parks. This needs to be corrected by providing a safe buffer zone around this and other national parks in BC.

Anti-wolf bias in Your Ministry

I strongly believe there is an anti-wolf bias in your Ministry when it comes to developing policy around the wolf.

I submit three reasons for my conclusion:

• The hunting season is the longest for the wolf than any other animal in the Hunting& Trapping regulations. Your Ministry has solely targeted the wolf as the main predator for the mountain caribou and has maintained NBL or closed season even where the mountain caribou no longer resides.
• Your Ministry allows hunting of the wolf from March 15- June 15 when the wolf pups are being raised. For the cougar, the regualtions state, "hunters may not hunt a cougar kitten or any cougar in its company." No such protection exists for the wolf!
• I also strongly believe that the BC Wildlife Federation and the Guide & Outfitters Association of BC (both of which are anti-wolf) strongly influence this anti-wolf bias in your ministry. Both these organizations support the killing of wolves to enhance ungulate populations for the pro-hunting crowd. This policy has been proven wrong thru many predation studies.

In my previous letter, I asked Mr. Penner what you & your ministry were going to do to protect the wolf? I did not receive a direct answer to that question. Wolf Awareness Week was October 12-18, 2008. What activities did your ministry do in recognition of the wolf during this week?

Can you please give me one solid piece of evidence that your Ministry does to protect the wolf in BC?

I look forward to you answering all my questions.

Sincerely,

Gary R. Allan, JD