Wolf cull defies logic

A government-endorsed experiment by the University of Alberta to kill wolves in the West Country is a real puzzler.

The intent is to increase the number of elk and deer for hunters to kill.

Blaming a decline in ungulate populations on an overpopulation of wolves killing hunters’ trophies, the study has set its rifle sights on four packs of wolves in the Nordegg area.

The ultimate plan is to shoot wolf cubs and pack members, then sterilize the alpha males and females, reducing the packs to two or three individuals.

The plan is an abuse of wildlife. Alberta government officials should condemn it, not endorse it.

Wolves are pack hunters and play an important role in the ecosystem. They typically take down weaker cows and calves, keeping the ungulate herds healthy.

Hunters, however, take out the strongest and best-adapted animals in the herds: big bulls.

So who’s the real culprit in weakening the herds?

Wolves don’t have rifles. They are lousy hunters when it comes to large, healthy prey, with a kill-success rate as low as 20 per cent.

But educing packs to two or three, incapable of reproducing pups to bolster the members, starvation is a strong possibility. A pack of two or three is an inefficient hunting team.

Is there a remote possibility that the destruction of habitat might figure into this equation?

The Nordegg area, the focus of the U of A study, is under immense pressure to accommodate tourism-related developments. Hunters with muscle ATVs will follow. A healthy elk population close by would be a plus.

Alberta Sustainable Resource Minister Ted Morton, an avid hunter, said the study area has a high density of wolves and “very disproportionate, almost historic lows of elk, mule deer and mountain sheep.”

A Central Alberta guide and outfitter says the cull is necessary because the wolf packs are bigger and stronger while the animals they feed on are declining.

But outfitters on the Internet, luring rich American hunters into the West Country, don’t reflect those concerns.

One outfit boasts: “As with the majority of big game species in Alberta, elk hunting seems to be getting better and better every year. There are more record bulls being taken than ever before and there are larger bulls being shot than ever before imagined by hunters in this province.”

Another outfit, charging up to $3,250 for a nine-day archery hunt, claims it’s “the best-yet elk hunting in Alberta.”

The important role that wolves play in the ecosystem was recently demonstrated in Yellowstone National Park, where the packs were wiped out. High numbers of elk devastated aspen and willow growth, negatively affecting beaver and moose. Coyote numbers swelled, affecting small rodent, fox and pronghorn antelope populations.

A few years ago, wolves from Canada were released in the park, despite cries from opponents that the packs would wipe out the ungulates and threaten livestock in the neighbouring area.

That worst-case scenario never happened. The ecosystem in Yellowstone has never been healthier.

Said one researcher from the park: “Wolves play an undeniably important role in the environment, and through education some people may be slowly getting the message they are vital.”

The Alberta study has come under the gun from many groups.

“To me, that’s so out of whack with how people in Alberta think we should be managing wildlife,” said Nigel Douglas of the Alberta Wilderness Association. “There’s absolutely no need for this, no need at all. There isn’t a shortage of ungulate numbers, there aren’t too many wolves, unless you just don’t like wolves.”

Jim Pissot, executive director of the Canmore-based Defenders of Wildlife Canada, described the study as another “bone-headed wolf cull poorly disguised as research. Elk-wolf interaction is a natural ecological process. . . . Nature should be left alone.”

The controversy has created positive discussion on the need to preserve habitat.

Going after the wolves completely misses the real target, says hunting outfitter John Hatala of Rimbey.

The root problem lies in the destruction of habitat, he said.

“We’re completely destroying our West County. Basically, the solution would be our government realizing there is a boiling point for all these animals.

“They’re boiling over into civilization. They’re boiling over into little spots where they’re really seen now.”

Ruining the balance of nature by controlling wolf numbers won’t hide that fact.

Rick Zemanek is an Advocate editor.