Protect habitat, don’t kill wolves: government scientists admit wolf cull is inhumane, yet propose expansion
Two science advisors for the B.C. government have recommended that Premier Christy Clark’s administration expand its program to kill wolves, mountain lions, moose and deer in an experimental attempt to conserve and recover threatened southern mountain caribou. Written in October 2016 by two members of the Provincial Mountain Caribou Recovery Science Team, “Next Steps for […]
Why were two young cougars killed in Ocean Falls this winter?
Why were two young cougars killed in Ocean Falls this winter? The recent killing (November 25th) of two young cougars by a Conservation Officer in Ocean Falls, B.C., has highlighted the complicated relationship between wild carnivores and humans. This particular wild carnivore, the cougar, Puma concolor, is extremely rare to encounter despite its relatively widespread […]
The 40-Year-Old Federal Salmon Study That Should Have Killed Pacific Northwest LNG
The report is dated July 17, 1973, and stamped by the Department of the Environment. Scientists had undertaken a study of fish in the Skeena estuary due to proposals to build a super port in the Prince Rupert area. The federal government wanted to know: “What destructive consequences could be imparted on the fisheries resource by superport construction?” So the […]
Courts asked to rule on B.C.’s controversial wolf cull
Local and international groups rally in support January 20, 2016 [Victoria, B.C.] – Pacific Wild and Valhalla Wilderness Society are challenging the legality
Mine shut down after pollution spill at Yellow Giant gold mine
Mon, Jul 27: Environmentalists sounding the alarm about tailings pond spill at Yellow Giant gold mine on Banks Island on
Heat wave adds to salmon’s migratory obstacles
The Early Stuarts, first of this season’s sockeye, are now ghosting in from the North Pacific, homing on the freshwater plume of the Fraser River. It spills in a vast, silty lens across the Salish Sea, one of the last mysterious signals guiding them toward the final dangerous stretch of a 16,000-kilometre journey. They will […]
B.C. caribou herds face extinction despite government protection
Woodland caribou in northeast British Columbia are headed for extinction and could become the first subpopulation of a species to vanish in Canada while under government protection. Researchers from the University of Northern B.C. and the province say five herds are collapsing even though the government is pursuing a recovery strategy that includes captive breeding, […]
Fighting Over Herring- the Little Fish that Feed Multitudes
The Pacific herring—an oily, silvery, schooling fish—is rarely high on the list of marine animals people fret about. But for the second straight year, the Canadian government has ignited a skirmish in British Columbia by moving to let fishing nets scoop up spawning herring, despite objections from scientists, Native people, and even commercial fishing groups. […]
Fisheries minister ignored advice from own scientists
When federal Fisheries Minister Gail Shea approved the reopening of commercial herring roe fisheries on First Nations’ territories in British Columbia, she ignored the recommendations of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) scientists. This was revealed in an internal DFO document released yesterday during a court hearing of five Nuu-chah-nulth First Nations’ injunction against […]
