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Attacks prompt B.C. to consider predator culls
Globe and Mail Update and Canadian Press
Thursday, August 22


Vancouver Island residents could see an increase in cougar and wolf attacks on pets, livestock and possibly humans if the animal populations aren't brought under control, a provincial wildlife specialist warns.

Doug Janz, a fish and wildlife specialist for the Water, Land and Air Protection Ministry, is recommending an organized cull of wolves and cougars, similar to those in other provinces grappling with the problem of so-called nuisance bears.

"There definitely seems to be a trend of increasing problem animals," Mr. Janz said.

Both the deer and marmot populations on Vancouver Island have plummeted in the last 10 years due to predation, he said.

It's estimated there are fewer than 80 Vancouver Island marmots left, 47 of which are in captivity. The government and the forest companies have invested millions in a recovery program.

"We don't want to turn it into a cougar feeding program," said Mr. Janz, who chairs the recovery program. Hunters are cheering the proposal but conservation groups are opposed.

Minister of Water, Land and Air Protection Joyce Murray is expected to make a decision on the cull proposal in late September, when she returns from vacation.

But other provinces already allow for culling of nuisance animals — an issue generating debate of another kind in central Canada.

On Thursday, Ontario New Democratic Party Leader Howard Hampton called on the province to give northern and rural municipalities the $1.8-million it's earned from a bear hunt organized to control nuisance animals.

While he refused to wade into the debate over the government's cancellation of the spring bear hunt, Mr. Hampton said bears are "everywhere" in northern and central Ontario.

Former premier Mike Harris cancelled the spring bear hunt in 1999 under intense pressure from southern Ontario-based animal rights groups.

Ontario gains financially from the bear hunt, said Mr. Hampton, but doesn't turn any of the money over to the municipalities to deal with wayward bears. The province should compensate municipalities based on the severity of the problem and for the cost of trapping and relocating bears, he said.

"This would only be a fair thing to do," he said.

Many bears in Ontario are now finding their way into built-up areas as urban sprawl reaches the hinterland.

"This is increasingly becoming a fairly serious problem," said Mr. Hampton, who believes the situation will grow worse as the animals forage for food to prepare for winter hibernation.

Recently, a bear mauled and killed a five-month-old baby to death in upstate New York. While Mr. Hampton said he couldn't predict a similar tragedy in Ontario, he suggested people could be at risk.

"This is starting to become a public-safety issue."

In B.C., Mr. Janz said that addressing habitat loss is part of a long-term solution.

He warned it could take 10 to 20 years for a critical drop in the deer population to cause a natural die-off of predators.
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