CAROLYN GRANT
The Ktunaxa Nation and Wildsight often share a common goal when it comes to wildlife issues. In the case of the restoration of the South Purcell Mountain Caribou, both want to see a healthy, sustainable herd, and see the pending translocation of animals from Dease Lake as a positive step in doing so.
However, they are not in complete agreement as to the possibility of a wolf cull.
MLA Bill Bennett has said that he is supportive of the translocation, provided that predator control is in effect – meaning aerial culling of wolves that prey on the caribou.
The Northern Lights Wolf Centre out of Golden has already come out against any wolf cull.
The Ktunaxa have stated they would be opposed to any long term wolf cull, while Wildsight spokesperson John Bergenske says that while his agency pushed back hard against broad wolf cull, if individual wolves are found to be preying on the fragile herd, they may have to be taken out.
“We feel that wolves are a natural part of the ecosystem,” said Ray Warden, Director of the Ktunaxa Lands & Resources. “A cull could have negative long term consequences, not only for the wolves, but ultimately also the caribou.”
“As others, the Ktunaxa Nation is deeply concerned about the dwindling caribou populations throughout our territory. We have had discussions with the BC government, and we fully support supplementing the population through translocation or other means, as an essential part of recovery efforts.
“However, if the effort requires harmful interventions such as a wolf cull, then perhaps the entire translocation program needs to be reassessed. In our view, wolves preying upon caribou is part of the ecosystem.”
“If you artificially reduce the wolf population, you also run the risk of other species that wolf prey on becoming too abundant, and then other effects cascade through the ecosystem.”
“Wildsight’s position is in agreement with the Ktunaxa position that wolves are a natural part of the ecosystem, while strongly supporting the translocation of caribou into the Purcells,” Bergenske said.
“Wolves are critical to ecosystem balance and monitoring must be used to assure that we maintain a healthy wolf and caribou population in the Purcells. We are optimistic that the present program will provide information for making sure that we do not loose any key components of the predator-prey system in the Purcells.
“Wildsight has successfully pushed back very hard against any large scale or general cull of wolves and believes that the ability to target specific animals who are predating on caribou is a tool that should only be used if an imminent threat of loss to this endangered herd is proven.”
Bergenske says that he is hopeful that there may not be any need to take out any wolves, as traditionally wolves have not preyed on caribou in the southern Purcell region, and that monitoring of wolves and caribou will be a part of the overall success of the program.
“Monitoring predation is a key component of the translocation to ensure that the transplanted animals have the opportunity to play their role in recovery of the Purcell mountain caribou population. Wildsight has supported the availability of killing individual predators who are keying upon the introduced caribou to this threatened herd. While we hope that a predator kill will not be necessary, I recognize that loss of a few key individual caribou (such as reproductive females) can lead to the rapid extirpation of this herd.”
Warden says that the Ktunaxa support monitoring predation, but if it does show that wolves are preying on the caribou and must be culled on an annual basis, the Ktunaxa would be opposed.
“We support monitoring predation impacts and reviewing the translocation program after the first year to determine if the wolf predation impact is such that too many wolf packs would have to be killed over too many years to make the translocation effort a success. We are deeply opposed to killing wolf packs on an annual basis for years to come.
“The Ktunaxa Nation recognizes the initial efforts that have been made by government, the forest industry and others to address the impacts as part of an overall recovery effort. The KNC supports many of these initiatives including the translocation of caribou from the Level-Kawdy territory.”