The Alberta Wilderness Association (AWA) is calling on the Alberta government to stop shooting wolves as a way of protecting caribou, and instead deal with the industrial development that’s infringing on caribou habitat in western Alberta.

According to the AWA, the Alberta government has shot 155 wolves from helicopters over the last two winters at the same time it allows rampant oil and gas development in the area. “Once you start putting roads and access into caribou habitat, it suddenly becomes a lot easier for the wolves to move around,” says Nigel Douglas, a conservation specialist with the AWA. “They use seismic lines and trails… to get into these places where the caribou were secure, and then it becomes much easier for them to hunt them.”

Douglas says Alberta should follow B.C.’s lead and protect caribou habitat instead of simply shooting predators — a tactic the government itself has acknowledged “will not succeed as a sole, or predominant, tool for caribou recovery.” “The wolves are the problem, in a way, in that they kill caribou, but they’re only a serious problem because we’ve made the access to get them in there,” says Douglas. (JK)