BC’s Wolf Cull Is Nothing But A Selective Slaughter Program

Society should be more concerned with removing our impact on nature

The B.C. government is a firm believer in supporting the lesser of two evils. In terms of conservation in the British Columbian wilderness, the “lesser evil” happens to be the mass killing of wolves in support of our province’s dwindling caribou population.

Saving one endangered species by removing a select number of another—almost 200 grey wolves and counting—is a gross misunderstanding of the goal of conservation efforts. Efforts like these merely constitute a coin flip philosophy when weighing the true value of two species.

Against the protests, petitions, and celebrity endorsements attempting to put an end to the killing of grey wolves, many cull-advocates will cite the scientifically supported merits of the Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resources’ actions. However, the science is debatable as to whether or not the killing of wolves will have any impact on the growth of the caribou population. Some kill programs like this have actually been found to have more adverse effects on reproductive cycles and territorial migration.

The cull program can also be seen as serving the interests of the logging industry, appearing only as a means to justify not setting aside more old-growth forests for caribou.

While we may at times lose perspective of just how well our place outside the food chain has served us, a focus on human encroachment and habitat displacement should continually remain a part of the public discourse. The collective goal should be to remove ourselves, at least at this point in our evolution, from the equation and let nature do what it has come master over time—the slow grueling process of genetic determinism that only arises out of natural selection and the struggle for life.