AR-News: Ontarians Support Ban on Sport Hunting Wolves

[jim robertson]

Ontarians Support Ban on Sport Hunting Wolves

TORONTO, Ontario, Canada, May 11, 2004 (ENS) - More than 90 percent of 
Ontarians support permanent protection for the Eastern Canadian wolf, and 88 
percent oppose the practice of sport hunting wolves, a new public opinion 
survey has found.
A provincewide survey commissioned by the environmental group Earthroots and 
conducted by Oraclepoll Research found that 88 percent of those questioned 
favor having a sustainable wolf management program, and do not see that 
enough is being done now to protect wolves.

A majority of Ontarians polled, 82 percent, oppose the killing of wolves for 
the sale of their pelts. There was especially strong opposition to killing 
wolves for sport, including 70 percent of those who live in a household with 
someone who has a hunting licence.

Earthroots is using the survey results to ask the Ontario government for a 
comprehensive protection plan that would apply to wolves across the 
province.

The Eastern Wolf has lost 58 percent of its historical range in Canada, and 
is now extinct in the Atlantic Provinces and in the eastern United States. 
Ontario is estimated to have the largest remaining population of these 
wolves, and Algonquin Provincial Park is the largest protected area for the 
Eastern wolf in North America.

On March 3, Ontario Minister of Natural Resources David Ramsay proposed a 
ban on the hunting and trapping of wolves in townships surrounding Algonquin 
Provincial Park. Research has shown that the park’s wolf population is 
declining and that high levels of hunting and trapping in areas adjacent to 
the park threaten their survival.

“We are very pleased that Minister Ramsay listened to the people of Ontario 
when he acted to protect the wolves in Algonquin,” said Melissa Tkachyk, 
Earthroots wilderness campaigner. “Earthroots hopes this will be the first 
step towards the implementation of a provincewide wolf protection strategy 
which has strong public support.”

The Eastern Wolf has been listed as a species of Special Concern by the 
Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada since 2001. A 
Special Concern species is any native species that, on the basis of the best 
available scientific evidence, is sensitive to human activities or natural 
events.

The province is now proposing to replace the existing but out-of-date list 
of Vulnerable, Threatened, Endangered, Extirpated or Extinct Species of 
Ontario with a new Species at Risk in Ontario list in which the Eastern Wolf 
is listed as a species of Special Concern.

The new Ontario list would change the terms used to describe provincial "at 
risk" categories to correspond to terms used at the national level.

Despite, their significant role in the ecosystem, Ontario’s wildlife laws do 
not provide any protection to wolves that range beyond limited park areas. 
It remains a virtual open season for hunting and trapping wolves in much of 
Ontario and there are no quotas or bag limits to restrict the harvest.

"The province does not know how many Eastern or gray wolves are killed each 
year whether for sport, property protection, or because they are perceived 
as vermin," Earthroots points out.

“Even the raccoon has been afforded more protection than wolves under 
Ontario’s wildlife laws,” said Tkachyk. “At the very least, wolves deserve 
no less respect and consideration as the other wildlife species.”

A strong majority of those polled, 89 percent, are of the opinion that 
wolves should receive at least the same or more protection as other species 
in Ontario.

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"Just remember it's the birds that's supposed to suffer, not the hunter." 
—George W. Bush, advising quail hunter and New Mexico Sen. Pete Domenici, 
Roswell, N.M., Jan. 22, 2004