An accomplished nature photographer is urging a tourism boycott of the Alaska Highway next year to protest a contest offering cash and prizes for hunting wolves.

John Marriott, who grew up in Salmon Arm but lives in Canmore, Alta., said he believes the hunt is unethical and should be stopped immediately.

"Hunting is a time-honoured tradition that is about putting food on your table and getting out on the land; it is not a contest for killing the biggest this or that or for nurturing a hatred of one species."

A story in The Vancouver Sun on Tuesday revealed that hunters who enter the contest and kill the biggest wolves stand to receive $250 to $1,000 and up. There is also a booby prize of $150 for the smallest wolf and draws for prizes such as a rifle and free taxidermy work. The contest continues through March 31 with each hunter able to enter up to three wolves.

Sponsors of the contest include the Peace River Rod and Gun Club and Rich Petersen, a realtor in Fort St. John who has served on the board of directors of the B.C. Wildlife Federation. It costs $50 to enter the contest, with winners receiving 10 to 40 per cent of the entry prize pool in addition to the guaranteed prizes of $150 to $1,000.

Advertising for the event depicts a snarling vicious-looking wolf, the sort of image that hunters would not typically observe in the wild.

In a letter to Petersen also sent to The Sun, Marriott states that he is urging his "readers, which number in the thousands" to avoid the Alaska Highway as long as the wolf-kill contest continues. He urged the greater hunting community to also condemn the contest.

The hunt is generating a public outcry, and not just from B.C.

"I am outraged and disgusted," said an email from Sheila Hordal, manager of clinical education, rural services, at Misericordia Community Hospital in Edmonton. "In a day and age where we need to be leaders in protecting the environment and teaching our children to be advocates for others, that this sort of competition comes up is horrible."

Annalise Falzon, a nature guide in Malta in the Mediterranean, wrote in an email that her country has lost much of nature and that B.C. should safeguard what it has.

"If you have a keen interest in conservation you should be looking at promoting your heritage and protecting it and not encouraging a bloodsport which in its own essence is not just cruel but outright insane," she said.

Anthony Everett, chief executive officer of Northern B.C. Tourism, said in response that an estimated 330,000 visitors annually drive the Alaska Highway, providing an important economic infusion into the northern economy in the summer.

"Tourism is a burgeoning industry up here, something we work to make sure gets recognized with all the other industries in northeast B.C.," he said. "We don't want to see anything impact that."

Marriott's nature photos have appeared in publications such as National Geographic Adventure, Backpacker, Canadian Geographic, and Outdoor Photography Canada. He also operates photo tours and workshops and has published several photo books.

Steve Thomson, Minister of Forests, Lands, and Natural Resources Operations, said that the wolf-kill contest does not break any provincial wildlife regulations.

Fort St. John Mayor Lori Ackerman could not be reached to comment.

In the Peace region, there is no closed hunting season on wolves below 1,100 metres elevation. The province is considering a bag-limit for wolves in the area.

lpynn@vancouversun.com