Good News for Algonquin's Wolves
Posted by: Kathie Brosemer (kathie) on November 09, 2001 at 17:45:21
from the who's-crying-now dept.
From the Wildlands League: Minister of Natural Resources John Snobelen has announced a full ban on the hunting and trapping of wolves around Algonquin Park. In response to your calls and letters urging him to act to protect Algonquin's wolves, the minister has gone beyond the recommendations of the Algonquin Wolf Advisory Committee and forbidden the deliberate killing of wolves in 39 townships surrounding the park for the next 30 months. It is our hope that at the end of this period, the ban can be made permanent. More, below.
For now, however, this is excellent news for Algonquin's wolves. The Eastern wolf, which ranges through central Ontario and southern Quebec, was recently added to Canada's Species at Risk List as a species of special concern. Even in Algonquin Park, the largest protected habitat for the species, a population decline has been detected. The wolf population was found to be at risk because so many wolves were being killed outside park boundaries by humans. Now, with year-round protection there is strong hope that a healthy core population of wolves can be sustained in and around Algonquin.
Your actions have led to a major success for protecting wolves and the ecological integrity of Algonquin Park. As top predators, wolves have an enormous impact on the ecology of the park. Minister Snobelen has responded to the outpouring of public concern -- more than 19,000 letters, postcards and petition signatures -- about the health of park wolf populations by adopting the more stringent protections recommended by the Wildlands League and other conservationist groups. Thank you for your help!
Please take a moment to congratulate the Minister on his actions by sending a message to minister@mnr.gov.on.ca. Governments need to also hear from us when they make difficult decisions in favour of conservation.
For more information about Algonquin's wolves, see this link.
You can get the whole story about Algonquin's wolves in John and Mary Theberge's excellent book, Wolf Country: Eleven Years of Tracking the Algonquin Wolves. You can order it from our website or call Kim at 416-971-9453 x46 for details.
The Wildlands League was founded in 1968 to protect wilderness in Ontario. It became a chapter of the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society in 1980. The Wildlands League works to protect wild places and to ensure resource use is sustainable for nature and communities.
To see other stories on this site about the struggle to protect Algonquin's wolves, search "wolves" at the bottom of this screen.
The fate of Algonquin Wolves!
The fate of Algonquin Park's wolf population will be determined thisby Afsana on 2004-01-15 16:03:35
winter. Your help is urgently needed to maintain public pressure on the
Ministry of Natural Resources to protect the wolves of Algonquin Park
permanently.
Algonquin Park is home to the largest protected population of Eastern
Canadian Wolves, a federally listed species at risk. A moratorium on
hunting and snaring these wolves in townships bordering the park is set
to expire on June 30th 2004, giving the population only 30 months to
recover from years of human persecution. Ontario Minister of Natural
Resources, David Ramsay will be making a decision any day now on whether to extend the moratorium or let it expire.
Your help is needed now. In a few quick and easy steps you can send a
message to Premier McGuinty and Minister Ramsay demanding permanent
protection for one of the most endangered wolf populations in the world.
Visit the Wolves Ontario! website at:
www.wolvesontario.org/wolves/action/. There is a template letter
awaiting the addition of your name and address. Letters written by
people like you gave these wolves 30-months of protection. Letters are
needed again to make the moratorium into a permanent ban.