We are booking up fast for fall sessions in the classroom! It is so exciting to see the interest in learning the truth about wolves from our teachers and students in BC and Alberta! We have new brochures for our education program in British Columbia and Alberta! Do you want to learn about wolves and coyotes? If you are in BC or Alberta get in touch with us. We have age appropriate presentations about the lives of wolves for everyone.


For more information, check out our link HERE.

We love teaching about wolves!

This article (posted below) confirms that the northern boreal forest is in bad shape along with the animals that require this biome as their habitat to live in. What is most alarming is that the article states that the federal government is trying to downplay this issue:  "It's not a good sign that when I contacted Canadian Forest Service scientist Sylvie Gauthier, the lead author of the Science paper that surveyed threats to the boreal, I was told by a public affairs officer that the interview would be on "deep background only" with no attribution to her or her employer. The federal government of Canada, facing some the world's most serious climate change threats, has gone to great lengths to squelch any discussion of this issue."

Read the full article here: http://thetyee.ca/News/2016/07/08/Decline-Worlds-Boreal-Forests/?utm_source=weekly&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=110716

Do you think that the grandkids of these politicians will thank them for this denial?

Check out Kirsten R. from Wolf Matters discuss the Banff wolf situation on Newstalk 770

Click the link and scroll to change the date to July 5, and then 5 pm time slot. The wolves aren't discussed until about the 46 min mark and you can fast forward to it. Thank so much Kirsten!

http://www.newstalk770.com/audio-on-demand-2/

Well here's some interesting and good news. The federal government is going to assemble 2 parliamentary committees that are going to review federal environmental assessment and National Energy Board laws to try to reverse the damage that the former government did to the public trust in environmental assessment and institutions.
Check it out!

http://naturecanada.ca/news/blog/best-opportunity-in-a-generation-for-environmental-law-reform/

 Please consider contacting Dave Kay and Matt Besko - AB Wildlife Management.

Recall, in June 2016, from the Rocky Mountain Outlook: "Dave Kay, commercial wildlife and priority species specialist with Alberta Parks and Environment, said the province is looking at ways to regulate against the use of wolf bounties by municipalities and hunting and trapping groups.“It might be legal, but socially it’s really not that acceptable and we certainly don’t promote them,” said Kay. “We’ve had some discussions internally about how we can regulate against the use of bounties on wolves.”

Please write and request a follow up on these statements in regards to the bounty programs in Alberta. It would also be wise to thank him (them) for taking this position and ask for a timeline when the public can expect bounties to be banned.

Reread the article here: http://www.rmoutlook.com/article/Debate-rages-over-wolf-bounties-20160602

• Dave Kay
  

        Commercial Wildlife and Priority Species Specialist Wildlife 
        Management Policy               
        Phone: 780 644-4646
        Fax: 780 422-9559
        E-mail: [email protected]

• Matt Besko

         Section Head Wildlife Management Policy Environment and    
         Parks 
         Phone: 780 427-7769
         Fax: 780 422-9559
         E-mail: [email protected]

An excellent letter regarding wolves in Alberta. Thank you Christina! Please let this article inspire you to write your own letters! Lets keep people talking about wolves and the issues they face in Alberta!! Read the article/letter here:

http://www.rmoutlook.com/article/Hopeful-for-change-on-wolf-policy-20160616

The Alberta Government's newly released Caribou Recovery Plan is making headlines today and asking for public input on their survey.  Note that they do plan to continue the wolf culls which have done nothing to increase the caribou recovery and the restrictions for ongoing land use does not go far enough. That said there are some very good points in the plan as well.



“Ultimately, caribou come first, and federal law requires each province and territory to develop range plans that protect, over time, at least 65 per cent of that habitat or face federal intervention.”

Alberta’s wolf cull began in 2005 in the Little Smoky Region of the province in an attempt to save the endangered woodland caribou.
Over the last nine years, more than 1,000 wolves have been killed along with 700 other animals.
Currently, the province shoots wolves from the air and uses strychnine bait and private trapping to kill the animals. But the report notes that some 20 moose and elk annually are killed from the poison as well.
“In conducting wolf control, society has embarked upon species valuation trade-offs that not everyone is comfortable with,” the report notes.
First Nations representatives told Denhoff that they would prefer to replace the poison with approaches that avoid killing other species unintentionally and have asked for direct participation in the cull."
Wolf Matters wonders if caribou come first why has habitat protection and restoration taken such a back seat?
We do however commend the Government of Alberta for looking at banning the use of poison and hope that they follow through with this in addition to the banning bounties as they indicated last week - The Province has said:
- the province is planning on banning wolf bounties for hunting and trapping groups and municipalities and counties.
- bounties are not acceptable
- province has never promoted them

PLEASE COMMENT on the survey in regards to the draft plan HERE

Read more about the plan in the News:

Press Release from Alberta Wilderness Association

One of our dedicated wolf supporters and volunteers recently wrote a letter to the editor and we wanted to share it as it is an excellent example of such a letter. We hope letters like this inspire you to continue to contact media outlets, your MLA, Minister Phillips and Premier Notley regarding your concerns about wildlife management issues in Alberta.

Some very sad news out of Banff today. But please don't jump to conclusions and come out swinging against Parks over this. This was a very, very difficult decision for them to have had to make and they would not have made this decision lightly. When an animal has become conditioned with respect to where it can obtain food it is incredibly hard to change that behaviour.

As soon as the pups began to become reinforced for that type of behaviour (getting food) pretty soon it would be an entire pack of wolves who would be posing this problem. We have got to be so careful about food/garbage storage and disposal as well as the less obvious passive feeding of wild animals like bird feeders and in some areas, not necessarily Banff or Canmore, but ornamental fruit trees like crap apple. These are all food sources for wild canids and can create animals who become reinforced for their behaviours of hanging out near people and populated areas by obtaining food. Hopefully there remaining pack members will be able to bring up these pups in a wild, healthy way that leaves them unconditioned as the Alpha female had become, but she will definitely be a substantial loss to the pack, which operates like a close knit family where every member is absolutely key to survival of the pack. Read more below.

http://calgaryherald.com/…/female-wolf-killed-in-banff-nati…
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/banff-wolf-pack-sighting-has-park-officials-urging-caution-1.3426842