British Columbia’s 2007 Mountain Caribou Recovery Implementation Plan (MCRIP) has failed to halt the decline of southern mountain caribou. Since 2007, at least six subpopulations of endangered caribou have been declared locally extinct (Purcells Central, Monashee, George Mountain, South Purcells, South Selkirk, and Burnt Pine). In an attempt to save caribou, the provincial government launched a multi-year wolf kill program in the South Peace and South Selkirk regions in 2015. The program has since been expanded to include the North Columbia, Tweedsmuir-Entiako, Hart Ranges, and Itcha-Ilgachuz regions.

The government’s decision to scapegoat wolves represents a failure to protect and restore habitat required by mountain caribou; old-growth forest that has been fragmented and destroyed by industrial logging, oil and gas exploration and recreational activity (snowmobiling, heliskiing, cat skiing). Over decades, these impacts have left many populations of caribou in serious decline, without habitat they need for their specialized diets and protection from predators. A study recently released suggests 900 square kilometres of identified critical habitat has been logged since 2014. In addition, the province is considering the approval of at least two mines in critical habitat, one in the calving grounds of an endangered caribou herd.

To date, the wolf cull program has killed over 1000 wolves and cost taxpayers approximately $2.2 million. Eradicating wolves will not change industries responsibility and the government’s complicity in the loss of caribou. Habitat destruction, the main driver of caribou decline, is still being ignored. These herds were pushed to the brink of extinction by the continued exploitation of critical habitat from resource extraction and motorized recreation, yet wolves pay the ultimate price.