In one of the worst slaughters of wolves since they were nearly exterminated from North America in the first part of the 20th century, about a dozen hunters in Canada's Northwest Territories have been killing wolves to supply the lucrative fur trade. Biologists fear that this may be the biggest, most concentrated wolf slaughter in Canadian history.
Even in the years when governments waged all-out war against wolves, dubbing them noxious vermin for their predations on elk, deer and caribou, they were rarely able to kill on the scale now under way in the Northwest Territories.
The hunters have been chasing the wolves using modern high powered snowmobiles until the wolves collapse from exhaustion. Then they are shot at point blank range. The wolves are run down on the open, frozen, treeless tundra where there is no place to hide. Entire packs of wolves have been rapidly exterminated in this way.
The total kill is expected to be much higher than 460. This number was obtained from the count of export permits required for the wolf pelts.
Government officials in the Nortwest Territories have done nothing to stop the slaughter. In fact, they defend it.
"We don't have a shortage of wolves up here," said Ron Graf, manager of integrated resource management in the territory's wildlife and fisheries division.
Read the full initial news report of this atrocity at The Globe And Mail as well as read their editorial. Then send letters of protest to:
The Hon. Don Morin, Premier
Government of the Northwest Territories
P.O. Box 1320
Yellowknife, NT, X1A 2L9
Telephone (403) 669-2311
Fax (403) 873-0385
don_morin@gov.nt.ca
The Hon. Stephen Kakfwi
Minister of Wildlife
P.O. Box 1320
Yellowknife, NT, X1A2L9
Telephone (403) 669-2366
Fax (403) 873-0169
stephen_kakfwi@gov.nt.ca
The Hon. Christine Stewart
Minister of Environment Canada
Centre Blk. Rm. 103-S
House of Commons
Ottawa, ON K1A 0A6
Telephone (819) 997-1441
Fax (819) 953-3457
A Sample Letter From Bill Dollinger of Friends of Animals:
The Hon. Stephen Kakfwi
Minister of Wildlife
P.O. Box 1320
Yellowknife, NT, X1A2L9
Dear Mr. Kakfwi:
On behalf of the 200,000 members and supporters of Friends of Animals, I am
writing in response to a report in the Globe and Mail which detailed the
appalling slaughter of wolves currently being carried out in the Northwest
Territories.
According to the article, a dozen hunters have killed at least 460 wolves
this winter by chasing them to exhaustion and shooting them. To allow this
barbaric activity to continue would be ecologically irresponsible and a
disgrace to the government of the Northwest Territories.
I urge you to immediately ban the practice of using snowmobiles to chase
and hunt wolves. Now that the brutal nature of this hunt has been exposed,
the government of the Northwest Territories must not delay in taking
appropriate action.
Thank you for your attention.
Sincerely,
Bill Dollinger
Wildlife Campaign