The provincial government of British Columbia, Canada, has proposed extending its decade-long wolf cull program by five more years in areas that are home to 15 declining woodland caribou herds.The province has killed 200-300 wolves each year since 2015 to help endangered caribou populations recover, spending nearly $10 million to date, but caribou numbers have increased only marginally.Scientists argue that old-growth forests cut for logging, mining and oil and gas extraction — and not wolves — is the main driver of caribou declines, making the province’s focus on wolf culls a short-sighted approach that will ultimately not save caribou and could have unintended consequences on the ecosystem.Conservationists call on the B.C. government to stop issuing new logging permits in areas where caribou live; stop building roads through forest and invest in forest restoration projects; and design long-term strategies for caribou conservation to address habitat loss.
The government of the Canadian province of British Columbia is in talks to extend its decade-long wolf cull program by another five years. Since 2015, the province has killed wolves in areas with declining populations of endangered woodland caribou as part of its Caribou Recovery Program.
