URGENT! Stop the NWT and Nunavut Wolf Cull Immediately!

  • by: Nicole Corrado
  • recipient: Nunavut Premier/Environment Minister Joe Savikataaq, wrrb, NWT Minister of Environment and Natural Resources Shane Thompson Shane_Thompson@gov.nt.ca

Dear NWT and Nunavut Ministry of Natural Resources,

Please do not kill more wolves.  Lethal control leaves more animals to move in. Wolf reduction by 80% is detrimental to all sorts of wildlife. Using one collared wolf to lure others (called a Judas program) is insidious. Shooting wolves from the air, in winter where they can't easily move in snow, is cruel. It is an insult to the veterinary community to call this euthanasia. Please do not kill these wolves. Instead, reduce habitat loss.

I am writing to express my opposition to the recently announced approval to initiate predator reduction programs under the Caribou Recovery Program.

This new wolf cull program intends to remove 80% of wolf populations. The government's own current data confirmed that habitat loss is the largest threat to endangered caribou, not wolves.

The current government consultation process during the COVID 19 crisis is not adequate and inappropriately excludes the public from expressing their concerns. This program wastes money that should be put into health care.  This consultation period should be made public and immediately extended.

The government continues to blame wolves for declining caribou herds while at the same time greenlighting hundreds of clear-cut logging and industrial operations within critical caribou habitat. Killing hundreds of wolves through aerial hunting, in the absence of protecting adequate habitat for threatened and endangered caribou herds, is unjustifiable.  

Please use non lethal humane strategies to save these animals. The wilderness is not a buffet: we can not pick and choose which animals we want.

I am writing to express my opposition to the wolf kill program that the North West Territories and Nunavut governments has been pursuing. Killing hundreds of wolves through aerial hunting, trapping, bounties, and on the ground hunting in the absence of protecting adequate habitat for threatened and endangered caribou herds, is unjustifiable.

Wolves are social animals which are integral to ecosystem function. They deserve protection and should not be exterminated because the government has continually failed to protect and recover enough habitat for caribou. Gross mismanagement of species at risk has resulted in unethical culls of predators and competing species.

To avoid such conservation dilemmas, the government must adequately protect the habitat of at-risk species in the first place.

There are solutions and alternatives to protecting caribou, but killing wolves should not be one of them.

I support the following recommendations for bringing the way that wolves are managed up to date: - Helicopter killing, hunting, and trapping must be stopped.  

Leg-hold traps, Coneybeare traps, snares and baiting must be banned.

There must be a return to former species license, quotas, bag limits, restricted seasons, and mandatory reporting of kills for hunting wolves.

The territorial management plan should consider the social stability of packs to ensure long-term conservation. When individuals are killed, the entire pack is affected, potentially created more breeding pairs and social chaos.

Wolf-cull and sterilization programs designed to protect caribou populations have failed and must be stopped. I demand a stop to logging of old-growth forest and regulation of mining in caribou range, an enforced ban on snowmobiles from winter range, and complete de-building of roads in caribou range to prevent easy access by predators.

Programs for compensation for livestock losses to wild predators should be continued.

Commit to reduce conflicts through prevention measures including education initiatives and incentives for responsible husbandry practices such as fencing, guard dogs, shepherds, etc.

Fund an adequate Conservation Officer Service that is not partnered with vested interests such as ranchers.

Large tracts of habitat should be set aside for multiple wolf packs and their prey, with no hunting or trapping allowed, so that wolves can develop natural packs and behaviour. This will provide benchmarks for scientific research and areas where people can watch wolves.

Curb hunting of caribou in sensitive and sensitive-adjacent habitats and end the removal of predators which can have unpredictable deleterious impacts on ecosystems.

Logging permits should no longer be granted in southern mountain woodland caribou ranges and logging permits already approved to destroy caribou critical habitat should be rescinded.

End wildlife killing contests in and prohibit the organization, sponsorship, promotion, and participation in wolf killing contests, competition or tournament that has the objective of taking wildlife for prizes or other inducement or for entertainment I call on Minister of Environment and Climate Change Catherine McKenna to issue an emergency order under the federal Species at Risk Act (SARA) to protect what critical habitat is left.

I request the Minister of the Environment to recommend an emergency order for the Bathurst and Bluenose East Caribou, pursuant to section 80(2) of SARA, to stop logging and all destructive activities in Federally identified critical habitat in order to avoid the imminent threats to the survival and recovery of the herds of caribou.

Furthermore, I reject the proposal to "Lengthen Wolf Trapping Season"

Conduct further research before any similar proposals are brought forward.

Base similar proposals on science or peer reviewed data and reliable evidence and include scientific explanations with links to relevant research.

Advertise these proposals so that all stakeholders will hear of them. Societal values support protecting wolves for a number of reasons. Wildlife based tourism is the fastest growing sector of the tourism industry and NWT's and Nunavut's international reputation is at stake. As other countries attempt to reintroduce and protect wolves, Canada continues to perpetuate, support and now expand the violence towards this species.

Wolves deserve protection and should not be exterminated because the government has continually failed to protect and recover enough habitat for ungulates.

Thank you for considering steps to better protect caribou population.

Natural mortality is evolutionarily important – our wildlife communities co-evolved over millennia and make each other stronger. Relative to the caribou on the landscape, wolves kill the youngest, oldest and weakest caribou, leaving the strong caribou behind to reproduce. Most hunters support calf protection.

What won't help our caribou is the liberalization of wolf hunting. 


There is no sound science behind this proposal to open up wolf hunting. Liberal canid hunting may alter predation dynamics.

This proposal may have unknown and unintended consequences for other species that wolves impact. 

I urge the government to abandon the proposal to shoot wolves and move forward with non lethal proposed actions to conserve our caribou. Apex predators are essential to biodiversity. Their existence in the province is a priority to me.

Update #14 years ago
URGENT: North West Territories is now copying British Columbia's wolf shooting program! Please ask them to stop. Email Natural Resource Minister Shane_thompsom@gov.nt.ca and Premier Caroline_Cochrane@gov.nt.ca
Sign Petition
Sign Petition
You have JavaScript disabled. Without it, our site might not function properly.

Privacy Policy

By signing, you accept Care2's Terms of Service.
You can unsub at any time here.

Having problems signing this? Let us know.