New plan: kill the moose to save the Caribou

[gcreek]

Thinking the wolves have already got a good handle on this idea. Somehow, no one explained for them to leave the caribou alone for the present.

[303savage]

Wouldn't it be more effective and more controllable to just kill the wolves?

It would make more sense, I wonder what the person was smoking when they thought that up.
Remove an alternate food source for wolves so they only have the caribou feed on.

[Linksman313]

[QUOTE=Rob Chipman;1931743]
I'm not certain that going after moose was the conscious second choice of the bios, but I do know (as we all do) that shooting wolves is problematic.
QUOTE]

Pardon the ignorance Rob, other than splintering packs when Alpha's go down I do not know what is problematic about shooting wolves?
Is their scientific research done in this field? My sister and family have taken part in a massive wolf cull in Northern Manitoba (Cranberry Portage) for the past 5 years and have had dramatic resurgence in Moose cow/calf survival rates. The only issue they are having is uninvited and non-guided American hunters poaching what little moose have come back into the territory.
Links

[Rob Chipman]

No need to beg pardon. I'm saying wolves are problematic to shoot strictly from the PR point of view, which I think the bios referenced in their report (and if not, I've seen it referenced elsewhere).

The practical challenges exist, but I'm sure they can be overcome (as you indicate).

Any documentary evidence of the Cranberry Portage project? It'd be handy to see documented numbers of how many wolves killed and what the moose pops did in return.


You know what the counter argument is: wolves and prey manage themselves beautifully and don't require human management. Didn't you read Never Cry Wolf? (Funny how the same people who say animals manage themselves will light their hair on fire when a report comes out from the Auditor General that the government hasn't been managing animals properly. It's almost like they don't listen to themselves.)

[gcreek]

It would make more sense, I wonder what the person was smoking when they thought that up.
Remove an alternate food source for wolves so they only have the caribou feed on.

As I have stated before, the "studiers" don't want to come up with a "professional" solution. If the public was ever informed that wolves were essentially killing everything they were capable of eating, a solution to thin the packs would have to be made and the study funds will dry up.

Follow the money, there will be more spent now with the current governments.

[recondo]

Perhaps we should restrict snowmobiling, where caribou’s live, as the biggest issue is creating super highways from the valley bottom to the top of the mountain for wolves. Normally it would require a lot of work and energy for a pack a wolves to get to winter caribou habitat, but when we allow snowmobiling, we create an easy alternative for the wolf and therefore they will use it. The government won,t restrict snowmobiling though, as it is a cash cow and therefore shall not be slaughtered.

[emerson]

Perhaps we should restrict snowmobiling, where caribou’s live, as the biggest issue is creating super highways from the valley bottom to the top of the mountain for wolves. Normally it would require a lot of work and energy for a pack a wolves to get to winter caribou habitat, but when we allow snowmobiling, we create an easy alternative for the wolf and therefore they will use it. The government won,t restrict snowmobiling though, as it is a cash cow and therefore shall not be slaughtered.

Snowmobile prohibitions already place in many areas.

[gcreek]

Snowmobile prohibitions already place in many areas.

Truth to that. Mountain caribou spend a lot of the winter in the forested areas surrounding their higher summer range. Wolves can travel quite easily to the caribou herds in this area without the help of snowmobile tracks, although they will take the easiest route available.

The experts will use any reason or excuse to not actually do a concerted wolf cull.

[horshur]

There was trail cam pictures of this..wolf on sled tracks Quesnel lake. Guess who's sled track? The biologists not shitting you.

[firebird]

They did this in Ontario, gave out lots of moose licenses to try and help the woodland caribou. Then they went 'oops we killed to many moose' and severally cut the moose tags. As for the caribou in Ontario they are not huntable anyways and most likely never will be and few and far between, not becessarily in the areas that they wanted a low moose population or accessible by your average hunter.

So IMO it's a load of poo. Bears and wolves just eat what they can get doesn't matter what. If the moose are gone they'll eat the caribou.