Wolf bounty rankles northeast Alberta residents

 

By Tim Jones, Edmonton Journal July 30, 2012

 

Photograph by: Supplied , Edmonton Journal

EDMONTON - A bounty that has led to the killing of 290 wolves since 2010 in the Municipal District of Big Lakes has angered some High Prairie area residents.

“The reason (the bounty) was brought in was we have an entity up hear ... called the agricultural service board,” said Ken Bosman, chief administrative officer of the municipal district in northeast Alberta. The board serves in an advisory capacity to municipal council and includes farmers and ranchers in the area who advise council on agricultural issues. “We heard very strong and clear from them, a few of years ago, that they felt that the wolf numbers had spiked and that it was severely affecting their business. So a bounty was put in place,” Bosman said.

Each adult wolf is worth $300 and the municipality has paid out $87,000 to hunters.
Not everyone in the district is on board with the bounty, Bosman said Monday.

“We had a very nice presentation, actually, from a group of citizens today, who were opposed to the bounty.” The presentation was delivered by two area residents, with the rest of the small contingent from outside the district, Bosman said.

There main concern is that the number of wolves killed has been too high, affecting their population said Alvin Billings, the municipal district’s reeve. “I guess in numbers (the wolf kill) was a success. If you are on the environmental side, they would question that, they’re going to say that might be a huge hit on the wolf population,” Billings said.

“Cattle ranchers in general would say yes it has been successful but some of the people opposing this of course wouldn’t agree.”

The bounty policy will be reviewed in September at the district’s semi-annual service board meeting. The fate of the policy will be decided there after a debate with representation from both sides of the argument.

Stanley Boutin a professor of biological sciences at the University of Alberta, believes the cull is not unusual to protect caribou or livestock.

Boutin said part of the problem is that you have cattle occupying outlying areas where you have a very healthy wolf population and that the data clearly shows that wolves will view livestock as prey. “It’s going to be an ongoing problem because any removal is usually led by replacement of wolves back into the system,” Boutin said. “Wolves are actually doing quite well in Alberta, numbers are up over what we’ve seen in recent years, so there are plenty in the system and they are very wide ranging.”

Hunting season starts in September and runs until may in the Big Lakes area.

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