Quote:
Originally Posted by Shrike
I seriously wonder if Alberta has not developed tunnel vision in their approach to their caribou conservation program. Good grief Bob Stuart is a very experienced and successful biologist. Being a retired biologist myself, I remember Bob Stuart and his very successful program.
Our Alberta bios should sit down with Bob and his crew and hear him out.
My personal question is whether we can justify continuously killing the huge number of moose and other ungulates for poison bait besides the non targeted species, to save a small tethering herd of caribou. This herd has been tottering on the brink for decades now. We have to ask ourselves seriously if this little herd is viable. Predator control can be effective short term help if a viable population goes down due to say a couple of bad winters, then gets heavily hit by predators. Short term removal of predators then can be very helpful for that population to recover.
Can this caribou population survive without continuous help? I remember this question went already around in the late eighties. At that time factors of decline were human activity like road kills, habitat removal by clear cutting or fire, building roads, oil and industrial activity, shooting because of mistaken identity, poaching and predation. It probably is still is a combination of the same old factors combined.
Seems Alberta is continuing to prop this little herd up no matter what the cost to other wildlife resources, while they may even be targeting the wrong predator!
A caribou herd in Alberta would be very nice, but it should be one that is viable, that can survive the above onslaught.
If not, may be............we should let it be and let it slide into extinction.
Sounds hard and uncaring, but after decades of trying to save the population is not producing the desired results, it never may and our resources should be put to work where they will do good, rather then a well meant but misguided government effort, saving that what can not be saved. It does supply some bios and techs with an ongoing job, but that is not the purpose of the exercise.
When it comes to terms like endangered and at risk Often a tremendous zeal develops to save it and that is admirable. Asking if it is worth the cost is unfortunate frequently regarded as heresy.
In the mean time I fully agree with Bob. Online hand wringing accomplishes nothing, while letters to the Minister do get attention.
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Well said. That is a very good question you raise. I agree, at some point we need to ask, where do we draw the line?
At what point does spending more time, money and other resources no longer make sense?
Clearly there has to be a limit. I can't believe that any reasonable individual would agree with spending the entire provincial budget on any one project.
So where is that line?
But I have deeper concerns with this issue. First I don't believe it is about preserving the Caribou herd, not from the politicians prospective.
Oh I'm sure that the people in the field see it that way, but the people behind this project, the politicians dance to a different drummer.
The only thing that motivates them is their political hides. So one has to ask, what is in it for them.
I think one clue lies in the protests we see here on these threads.
Protests about Wolves killing the Moose and Deer.
Another clue is what has been happening with the fenced hunts and domesticated wildlife issues.
Look at it from a politicians prospective. You could figuratively kill two birds with one stone on this issue.
You could appease the environmentalists by appearing to care about a dwindling herd of Caribou while at the same time appease the anti Wolf crowd by appearing to be doing something about the high Wolf population.
That's a win win for a politician. Of course you wouldn't want to end the program no matter if it made sense economically or not, if this were the motivation.
I doubt we will ever know what the true motivation behind this program is. We may guess correctly at some of it. Some of it may even be what they claim the motivation is. Certainly for those with boots in the flied I believe that is their motivation. I believe they really care about the Caribou.
But for the people at the decision making level, I doubt they care about anything more then their political carriers.
I've had a peek behind the scenes and I can tell you it's ugly back there.
Really really ugly.
If people only knew what goes on behind the scene they would be outraged. And that's putting it mildly in the extreme.
I can tell you this, the corruption in this government goes right to the very top. Those in the know dare say nothing. It is that bad.
I'm just one little guy and no one is going to listen to me. I know that and they know that. Nothing I do or say is going to change anything.
But you younger people, if you don't start asking the hard questions, one of these days you will wake up to discover that it is too late.
Frankly, I think we are well past that point already.
This Wolf poisoning program is just one small indication of what lies beyond.
In my opinion, our only hope is to get rid of all the old crew and start all over again.
Make your vote count this time. Vote anything but PC.