The double standard on wolf hunting

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 31/12/2016 (3288 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Of all the animal species that are hunted in Manitoba, none divides the public quite like the wolf.

Most people can easily wrap their heads around hunting for species such as whitetail deer or Canada goose, whose meat is eaten. However, many people have a harder time understanding why our province, or any other, allows hunting for wolves, whose meat is more-or-less inedible, unless you’re talking about the most basic, survive-while-lost-in-the-bush type of situation.

Wolf hunting and trapping does occur here in Manitoba, and has for a long time, just as it has in many other parts of North America and across the world. In fact, some provinces and states go a step further and actively cull populations of wolves and other predators. The furthest we’ve gone in Manitoba recently is to offer financial incentives to trappers to take more wolves off the landscape.

For those who ask why, consider this: We humans have an interesting relationship with our food, especially when it comes to competing for that food with other sentient creatures. There still exists a basic biological competition on earth for food resources, but it’s something many people living in First-World, urban conditions can often forget. That competition, however, remains a very real struggle for millions of people across the globe, including here in Canada.

At a recent meeting of the Beverly-Qamanirjuaq Caribou Management Board, some of the Dene and Inuit hunters and trappers on the board recounted tales of shooting 20 to 25 wolves in one morning, just to keep them off the dwindling caribou herds. In British Columbia, the government recently committed to increased predator control to help restore moose populations, citing a report that 45 per cent of B.C.’s moose are killed by predators such as wolves, bears and cougars, while only 18 per cent are killed by human hunters.

Wolves, of course, have a well-established place in the food chain, and are an iconic species of Canadian wildlife that should be cherished and their populations sustained. They enjoy an elevated position in the belief systems of many Indigenous cultures here in Canada and they have a special mystique that is recognized worldwide. But does that mean we should never hunt, trap or otherwise kill them?

How many Manitobans, for example, would think twice about a farmer shooting a wolf to protect his chickens or livestock?

A 2007 survey of Americans, conducted by Virginia-based Responsive Management, looked at public support for hunting “by motivation,” including whether respondents supported hunting for various reasons such as harvesting meat, protecting humans from harm and animal population control.

The survey found that 71 per cent of Americans — whether they themselves hunted or not — supported the idea of allowing hunting “to protect property,” while 81 per cent said they supported hunting “for wildlife management,” and 83 per cent “for animal population control.”

In the often fierce world of public opinion, that is substantial support. The numbers suggest that North American society generally accepts the notion of protecting our own food sources (chickens, cows, etc.) from predators, and that hunting is a publicly acceptable way of managing wildlife.

Here in Manitoba, that same support exists, because it plays out in the form of publicly funded provincial programs such as the problem predator removal program, and the wildlife damage compensation program for livestock predation. Livestock producers whose animals have been attacked by bears, cougars, wolves or coyotes can apply to the Manitoba Agricultural Services Corporation for compensation. Those same producers may also contact a licensed trapper “for assistance in dealing with the problem predator,” according to the terms of Manitoba Sustainable Development’s problem predator removal program.

Both these programs are perfectly legitimate and ultimately necessary, in my opinion. As people who live in rural areas never forgot, wolves can be dangerous things that, at the very least, have the capacity to injure or kill wildlife, domestic animals and even humans. And when it comes to the predator successfully killing its prey, we’re willing to acknowledge the damage with compensation to farmers, and then take preventative measures to mitigate future kills.

So why don’t we, as a society, think the same way about protecting deer, moose, caribou, grouse and other wildlife from these same predators? Those wild animals are just as much “food” as cows and chickens, yet we don’t seem quite as willing to take the same measures to protect wild food sources.

No one is compensated in Manitoba when a wolf kills a moose or a deer, and people who want to hunt and trap wolves are met with an unnecessarily complicated licensing system and public sentiment that can be mixed at best. So why the double standard?

We already have a wolf hunting season in Manitoba — sort of. You can’t actually buy a wolf licence because none exists here, but hunters who are after deer, moose, bears or caribou are allowed to shoot a wolf if they see one. Manitobans (but no one else) can continue hunting wolves all winter, so long as they’re carrying one of those other big game licences. That’s our wolf-hunting system. The Manitoba Lodges and Outfitters Association has long been asking the province to simplify that convoluted system and establish a standalone wolf licence, and its own season to go with it.

Naysayers will say wolf hunters are only after a “trophy,” but that is a common and tired debate for all hunted predator species, whether they’re wolves, grizzly bears or African lions. The fact is, wolves are just as capable of eating moose and caribou as they are cows or chickens, so let’s start wrapping our heads around that fact. Large scale predator culls are about as controversial as it gets in wildlife management, so here’s an idea: why don’t we Manitobans start by making life a little easier for those who are actually willing to buy a wolf licence and hunt them one at a time?

Paul Turenne is executive director of the Manitoba Lodges and Outfitters Association.