Canadian Officials Poison Wolves to Protect Caribou Near Tar Sands

The caribou population in Canada is drastically declining due to deforestation, an increase in tar sands, and many other area industrial developments.

But what's more startling is how Canadian officials have decided to deal with the situation.  According to Think Progress, "...rather than focus on habitat conservation efforts to protect threatened caribou populations in the province, Canadian officials are poisoning and shooting wolves that prey on caribou."  This strategy could result in a potentially disastrous situation -- the Pembina Institute estimates that approximately 6,000 wolves could be murdered throughout the next five years.

The National Wildlife Federation issued the following statement in response to the Canadian government's killing of wolves:

"Two particularly repugnant methods of destroying wolves – shooting wolves from helicopters and poisoning wolves with baits laced with strychnine – would be carried out in response to the caribou declines. Strychnine is a deadly poison known for an excruciating death that progresses painfully from muscle spasms to convulsions to suffocation, over a period of hours. Wildlife officials will place strychnine baits on the ground or spread them from aircraft in areas they know wolves inhabit. In addition to wolves, non-target animals like raptors, wolverines and cougars will be at risk from eating the poisoned baits or scavenging on the deadly carcasses of poisoned wildlife."

Clearly, Canada's response to the issue at hand is not a wise one.  And it won't even fix the problem -- Caribou populations are not likely to survive another 40 years if industrial activity in Alberta continues.  The main culprit is the expansion of tar sands (and not predators), and yet Canadian officials only plan to expand tar sand production.