The Truth About Bounties
By Dwight Rodtka
Bounties, like snares, are one of the oldest and crudest methods man has used in an attempt to solve problems [real or imagined] caused by everything from man himself (usually bank robbers) to animals, birds and even fish.
In Alberta, wolf bounties are proliferating despite the long-standing, science-based proof that they do not work. To the uninformed, bounties seem to offer a quick fix and thus are popular with politicians and many special interest groups. It easy to make wolves the scapegoats for all kinds of issues—from putting ranchers out of business to causing the decline (in the Smoky River caribou situation, the extirpation) of wild ungulates.
Whatever the real causes of these problems might be, killing wolves is often singled out as the solution. What an easier cure than slapping a bounty on them! In Alberta, we currently have municipal governments and private hunting clubs offering bounties. The bounty payout varies, but seven municipalities are currently offer bounties of up to $500 per wolf. They have paid our hundreds of thousands of dollars and thousands of wolves have been killed.
In one Municipal District (MD), eight of nine cattle per year were being killed. Not only did the government (taxpayer) pay full compensation for the livestock loss, Alberta Fish and Wildlife conducted control work on wolves and the MD paid out tens of thousands of dollars in wolf bounties. Why should a handful of self-serving producers and politicians be able to cause such a colossal waste of time, effort and wildlife??
Scapegoating wolves and bounties is the “in” thing today. The more important issues, issues which are fundamental to solving the problems, namely land use planning and animal management, are barely (if at all) part of the conversation.
The secret bounties being paid out by hunting clubs are another form of blatant abuse. Without a shred of scientific evidence, the Wyoming-based Wild Sheep Foundation, the Alberta Fish and Game Association, and the Alberta Trappers Association have decided it will be to their benefit to put a bounty on wolves. Even more disconcerting is that the Alberta government supports these bounty initiatives and ignores their own biologists who recommended against bounties!
Pat Long, president of the (Wyoming-based) Wild Sheep Foundation, takes pride in having introduced wolf bounties into Alberta. The Alberta Fish and Game are asking for province-wide wolf bounties to be paid for by taxpayers, and the Trappers Association is keen for support money to support their sport of recreational wolf snaring and trapping.
With Mr. Long being the Chairman of the Board of the Alberta Conservation Association, and with the Alberta Fish and Game Association as well as the Alberta Trappers Association all sitting at the same table, one wonders how long before we taxpayers will be paying for their sport.
The municipalities of Cardston, Sundre, Rocky Mountain House and Drayton Valley are paying bounties of up to $300 per wolf. Since 2007, hundreds and hundreds of wolves have been killed for no legitimate reason and bounties have paid in complete secrecy.
One of the tragic side effects of the bounty system is that it has dramatically increased the amount of snaring being done. Not only are snares barbaric devices which can cause torturously slow deaths, the non-target catch in snares is likely to be staggering. But the by-catch issue is also kept secret! There is no requirement for trappers to report non-target catches because the government doesn’t want the public to know. One third of radio collared cougars in a recent study west of Rocky Mountain House were killed in wolf snares. 1 to 3% of radio collared moose in various Alaskan studies died in wolf snares. See The Truth about Snares for more information on snares.
This simplistic perversion of killing wolves is masking the real problems facing our declining big game populations and the declining fortunes of cattle producers. Problems are only going to worsen. The Alberta government, MDs and Counties, The Wild Sheep Foundation, the Alberta Fish and Game Association and the Alberta Trappers Association can take credit for this ongoing persecution of wildlife and abuse of public funds.
Through FOIP requests (Access Request 2011-G0046), we have obtained the following quotes from wildlife biologists, including Alberta government biologists, who state that bounties are not an effective management tool.
ROB LAMONT [Field Services, referring to bounties] “will likely create some enforcement issues including such things as illegal poisoning and illegal trapping”
MARK HECKBERT [Fish and Wildlife Manager] “public bounties effectiveness at reducing wolf populations is doubtful despite many thousands of wolves killed in North America in the 20th Century” – “where large tracts of land function as reservoirs for wolf populations, bounties can be expected to be ineffective” – “The wolf population and associated depredation on livestock may actually increase under a public bounty”
DAVE MOYLES (Senior Wildlife Biologist) “Bounties are not an effective form of controlling wolf numbers” “….the potential for abuse is great.”
NATHAN WEBB (Carnivore Specialist with Alberta Fish and Wildlife) “Studies in Alberta and Alaska have indicated that public harvests of wolves are not effective in reducing wolf populations enough to allow increases in wild ungulates” “I do not believe a bounty program will be effective…”
STEVAN CROSS (Manager Field Services) “Scientific study has shown that a bounty has no effect on a predator population” “The wolf population and associated depredation on livestock may actually increase under a public bounty.”
B MAILE (Wildlife Biologist) “…bounty programs across North America historically not successful at reducing wolf/coyote populations.”
By Dwight Rodtka
Bounties, like snares, are one of the oldest and crudest methods man has used in an attempt to solve problems [real or imagined] caused by everything from man himself (usually bank robbers) to animals, birds and even fish.
In Alberta, wolf bounties are proliferating despite the long-standing, science-based proof that they do not work. To the uninformed, bounties seem to offer a quick fix and thus are popular with politicians and many special interest groups. It easy to make wolves the scapegoats for all kinds of issues—from putting ranchers out of business to causing the decline (in the Smoky River caribou situation, the extirpation) of wild ungulates.
Whatever the real causes of these problems might be, killing wolves is often singled out as the solution. What an easier cure than slapping a bounty on them! In Alberta, we currently have municipal governments and private hunting clubs offering bounties. The bounty payout varies, but seven municipalities are currently offer bounties of up to $500 per wolf. They have paid our hundreds of thousands of dollars and thousands of wolves have been killed.
In one Municipal District (MD), eight of nine cattle per year were being killed. Not only did the government (taxpayer) pay full compensation for the livestock loss, Alberta Fish and Wildlife conducted control work on wolves and the MD paid out tens of thousands of dollars in wolf bounties. Why should a handful of self-serving producers and politicians be able to cause such a colossal waste of time, effort and wildlife??
Scapegoating wolves and bounties is the “in” thing today. The more important issues, issues which are fundamental to solving the problems, namely land use planning and animal management, are barely (if at all) part of the conversation.
The secret bounties being paid out by hunting clubs are another form of blatant abuse. Without a shred of scientific evidence, the Wyoming-based Wild Sheep Foundation, the Alberta Fish and Game Association, and the Alberta Trappers Association have decided it will be to their benefit to put a bounty on wolves. Even more disconcerting is that the Alberta government supports these bounty initiatives and ignores their own biologists who recommended against bounties!
Pat Long, president of the (Wyoming-based) Wild Sheep Foundation, takes pride in having introduced wolf bounties into Alberta. The Alberta Fish and Game are asking for province-wide wolf bounties to be paid for by taxpayers, and the Trappers Association is keen for support money to support their sport of recreational wolf snaring and trapping.
With Mr. Long being the Chairman of the Board of the Alberta Conservation Association, and with the Alberta Fish and Game Association as well as the Alberta Trappers Association all sitting at the same table, one wonders how long before we taxpayers will be paying for their sport.
The municipalities of Cardston, Sundre, Rocky Mountain House and Drayton Valley are paying bounties of up to $300 per wolf. Since 2007, hundreds and hundreds of wolves have been killed for no legitimate reason and bounties have paid in complete secrecy.
One of the tragic side effects of the bounty system is that it has dramatically increased the amount of snaring being done. Not only are snares barbaric devices which can cause torturously slow deaths, the non-target catch in snares is likely to be staggering. But the by-catch issue is also kept secret! There is no requirement for trappers to report non-target catches because the government doesn’t want the public to know. One third of radio collared cougars in a recent study west of Rocky Mountain House were killed in wolf snares. 1 to 3% of radio collared moose in various Alaskan studies died in wolf snares. See The Truth about Snares for more information on snares.
This simplistic perversion of killing wolves is masking the real problems facing our declining big game populations and the declining fortunes of cattle producers. Problems are only going to worsen. The Alberta government, MDs and Counties, The Wild Sheep Foundation, the Alberta Fish and Game Association and the Alberta Trappers Association can take credit for this ongoing persecution of wildlife and abuse of public funds.
Through FOIP requests (Access Request 2011-G0046), we have obtained the following quotes from wildlife biologists, including Alberta government biologists, who state that bounties are not an effective management tool.
ROB LAMONT [Field Services, referring to bounties] “will likely create some enforcement issues including such things as illegal poisoning and illegal trapping”
MARK HECKBERT [Fish and Wildlife Manager] “public bounties effectiveness at reducing wolf populations is doubtful despite many thousands of wolves killed in North America in the 20th Century” – “where large tracts of land function as reservoirs for wolf populations, bounties can be expected to be ineffective” – “The wolf population and associated depredation on livestock may actually increase under a public bounty”
DAVE MOYLES (Senior Wildlife Biologist) “Bounties are not an effective form of controlling wolf numbers” “….the potential for abuse is great.”
NATHAN WEBB (Carnivore Specialist with Alberta Fish and Wildlife) “Studies in Alberta and Alaska have indicated that public harvests of wolves are not effective in reducing wolf populations enough to allow increases in wild ungulates” “I do not believe a bounty program will be effective…”
STEVAN CROSS (Manager Field Services) “Scientific study has shown that a bounty has no effect on a predator population” “The wolf population and associated depredation on livestock may actually increase under a public bounty.”
B MAILE (Wildlife Biologist) “…bounty programs across North America historically not successful at reducing wolf/coyote populations.”