B.C. extends aerial wolf cull for five more years

A controversial wolf cull in B.C. has been extended for another five years, according to the Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development. 

The province's "aerial wolf reduction program" was quietly renewed beginning in the winter of 2021-22  and will target the Kootenay, Cariboo, Omineca, Skeena and Peace regions of B.C.

Aerial wolf reduction involves the shooting of wolves from a helicopter, which the province describes as the most effective and humane way to reduce wolf populations in remote areas. 

The cull was put in place in 2015 in an effort to prevent the further decline of caribou populations. At the time, some animal rights groups and conservationists criticized the program, while others supported it.

Since 2015, a total of 1,429 wolves were culled through the aerial reduction program.

The ministry estimates there are about 8,500 wolves in B.C. Officials anticipate anywhere from 200 to 300 animals will be killed annually through the program. 

The ministry says that without more predator reduction, many caribou herds will continue to decline and be at risk of dying out. 

Laurie McConnell, wolf campaigner with the conservation group Pacific Wild, says culling wolves is not the answer to protecting caribou — instead, she says the province should focus on preserving habitat. 

"Wolves just keep dying while industry ... still utilizes the backcountry and backs the caribou into smaller pieces of old-growth forest," she said.

"No amount of killing wolves is going to save caribou if they don't have habitat."

The province says habitat protection alone does not create new habitat; the creation of new habitat relies on forest growth, which happens slowly compared to how quickly they're aiming to revive these populations.

Pacific Wild took the province to court last year to challenge the legality of culling. The judge has not yet made a decision. 

"The clear intent is to continue the needless scapegoating and killing of wolves instead of taking essential steps of protecting intact old-growth forests for endangered caribou while ensuring fossil fuel industries do not access and fragment this habitat further," said Ian McAllister, conservation advisor for Pacific Wild.

"By safeguarding and restoring caribou habitat, B.C. would be doing its part in mitigating climate change while also protecting the full suite of predator-prey relationships that are being destroyed through short-term greed."

The Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development says these are "short-term," "emergency" measures to give the government time to figure out a long-term wildlife management plan.

"Our government's approach to predator reduction is based on science and sound wildlife management principles," the ministry said in an email to CBC. 

"The decision to carry out wolf culls is not taken lightly, but science and past results show that this recovery action is an effective way to decrease predator pressure on B.C.'s threatened caribou herds."

The ministry says it will continue to assess the situation to inform future decisions on culling.