The Northern Lights Wildlife Wolf Centre has formed a coalition for Canadian Wolves. For decades, small groups have been advocating for wolf conservation with little response from the government. We need to unite our voices so that we can accomplish change. By improving networking among researchers and activists, and by coming together as one unified group, we will have a powerful voice for wolves. Canada still has one of the healthiest wolf populations in the world. On a global basis, this provides us with a unique and vital conservation opportunity. “Canada has a chance to do something no other country has done: deliberately to conserve healthy wild populations of different types of wolves on one of the last landscapes still capable of supporting such a conservation goal”, (Hummel & Pettigrew, 1991). Let us learn from the rest of the world that has lost these top predators not to make the same mistakes.

The IUCN Manifesto on Wolf Conservation states that the importance and status of wolves should be taken into account by legislation and in planning for the future of any region, (Hummel & Pettigrew, 1991).

The goals of the coalition are to protect existing wolf populations in Canada and it will act to:

• Maintain local wolf populations where they occur as an integral part of a healthy ecosystem

• Establish buffer zones around National Parks in Canada’s Central Rocky Mountains

• Create a National Wolf Conservation Strategy

• Enforce more strict hunting and trapping regulations through harvest limits, specific license requirements, and mandated reports of harvests

• Minimize predator control programs by striving for non-lethal management
• Promote predator-friendly livestock and ranching practices
• Increase public awareness about the important role wolves play within their local ecosystem, and dispel common misconceptions.

• Facilitate cooperative efforts among researchers, activists, and other groups striving towards the conservation of wolves.

Canis lupus (C. lupus) once roamed most of the northern hemisphere, but have been erradicated from many parts of their former range through habitat fragmentation and human exploitation.  In Canada, wolves are not protected outside of National Parks. We need to pass legislation to perpetuate existing populations where they occur, as recommended by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) guidelines on wolf conservation, (Hummel & Pettigrew, 1991). A World Wolf Congress held in 2003 agreed that ‘co-operation between neighbouring jurisdiction is needed to ensure the survival of wolves in the central Rockies’, (Alberta Wildlife Enhancement Society, 2003). The World Wildlife Fund

tells us ‘history has shown that, if deliberate efforts are not made to conserve large carnivores, they are doomed’, (Hummel & Pettigrew, 1991).

Although wolves require an adequate prey base, the defining factor in wolf persistence is protection from humans, (Regional Perspectives on Ecosystem Indicators and Issues. 2002). Human use and access can be can be directly linked to wolf mortality rates and locations around the Parks, (Regional Perspectives on Ecosystem Indicators and Issues, 2002). Where prey abundance is low, human use becomes even more significant to adversely affect wolves. Ask yourselves as Canadians; “What has the rest of the world taught us about the fate of wolves? Are we taking steps to ensure the same thing does not happen to our top predators?” Martin Luther King points out that by remaining silent, we allow others to prevail. Let us howl until the moon comes down, until we are heard!

References

1. Hummel, M. & Pettigrew, S.1991. Wild Hunters – Predators In Peril. Key Porter Books Ltd.

2. Co-operation Called For To Save Wolves. 2003. Alberta Wildlife Enhancement Society.

www.wildlife-enhancement.ca

3. Regional Perspectives on Ecosystem Indicators and Issues. 2002. From Proceedings of Humans, Wolves, Elk,

Aspen and Willow, and Now Beetles (HWEAW + B) Science Workshop, Evening Session. Banff, Alberta.

To Join the Canadian Wolf Coalition, click here.