Woman stages one-person protest in support of wolves
By Nelson Daily Staff
A concerned woman staged a one-person protest against the BC Government’s wolf kill Monday afternoon at the Park and Ride outside Nelson.
The woman, who wanted to remain anonymous, held up signs to passing motorists saying, “Stop the War on Wolves” and “Wolves are Tortured to Death”.
Earlier this year, the province announced plans to cull up to 184 wolves in an “immediate action” to protect the South Peace and South Selkirk mountain caribou herds, which has dwindled to just 18 members and is in danger of extinction.
In the South Selkirk area, the province had a target of 24 wolves, and killed 11 this year.
Various environmental groups protested the move, saying slaughtering wolves from helicopters, transplanting animals to areas that have little viable habitat left, where they are quickly killed by predators: some of our smallest and most-endangered herds of mountain caribou are receiving intensive efforts to boost their numbers.
The protester said, “wolves are the monitors of a healthy Eco system. Without them disease manifests in nature. Pressure is building for the downfall of natural systems.
“God’s watching. We choose to see the truth.”
However, the province is standing firm with its decision.
A government advisory document reinforced the decision, saying British Columbia’s controversial wolf control program will have to go on for at least a decade, and other animals may also have to be killed if the province’s endangered caribou herds are to be saved, government advisory documents say.
The program, in which 84 wolves were shot from helicopters in its first phase this winter, had no time frame when it was announced last January, but was described as a “multiyear” project that was scientifically based.
— with files from Naomi Lewis
