In the latest and perhaps most astonishing display of the tar sands industry’s attacks on science and our democracy, the government of Alberta has made plans to initiate a large-scale wolf slaughter to provide cover for the destruction wrought by the industrialization of the boreal forest ecosystem.

In the coming years, an anticipated 6,000 wolves will be gunned down from helicopters above, or killed by poison strychnine bait planted deep in the forest. Biologists and other experts say the cull is misguided, and that their studies have been ignored or suppressed. Worse, they warn that although the government is framing the wolf cull as a temporary measure, it has no foreseeable end.

The Alberta government has already initiated the wolf cull in regions of Alberta heavily affected by industrial development. In the Little Smoky region, an area heavily affected by the forestry, oil and gas industries and just a few hundred kilometeres away from the tar sands region, a broad wolf cull has already begun, claiming the lives of more than 500 wolves.

Recently the Alberta government proposed a plan to open this brutal form of ‘wildlife management’ to other regions, suggesting an extensive and costly cull in place of more responsible industrial development.

This is clear evidence of the fact that Alberta’s tar sands oil is unquestionably conflict oil, despite the propaganda spouted by the “ethical oil” deception campaign. Aside from its desruptive affects on wildlife, tar sands oil is dirty, carbon intensive and energy inefficient from cradle to grave.

And that’s without mentioning the role the tar sands boom has played in Canada’s slide from climate leader to key villain on the international stage. Beyond its environmental consequences, tar sands extraction has negatively affected local tourism and recreation-based economies, impacted public health and torn at the rich fabric of cultural diversity and pride among Albertans and all Canadians.

Behind the Harper administration’s unbounded drive to drown Canada’s reputation in tar sands oil pollution lies the political corruption characteristic of the classic petro-state. Free speech is being oppressed, while respected members of the scientific community claim they are being muzzled, ignored and intimidated.

According to this strategy, caribou and wolf alike fall prey to another kind of predator: multinational corporations.

Stop Unethical Oil in its Tracks. Sign DeSmogBlog’s email petition calling on Environment Canada to reject this anti-science attack on wolves. Let’s hold industry accountable for damaging the boreal forest ecosystem, not scapegoat innocent wolves.

Sadly, Alberta’s history of covering over regrettable and irresponsible wildlife management runs about as far back as its history of industrial development – a correlation all too evident in the recent caribou recovery charade.

The Caribou ‘Recovery’ Backstory

Industry Takeover

But nothing explains that twist in the story better than Alberta’s staunch fidelity to continued industrial development. And nothing stands to threaten that blind committment more than a band of respected scientists officially recommending a moratorium on certain activities.
Since 2004, Alberta has made no progress on the issue – the tar sands expansion continues with reckless speed while caribou populations continue to decline.

In the wake of the recovery team’s dispersal, the Alberta government launched a new

Science Under Attack

This proposed ‘integration’ of conservation and industrial activities, however, means that independent scientific research is directed by heavy-handed industrial interests and a political agenda.

“There’s a real lack of independence there and there isn’t even independence of most of the government scientists. Most are in a position where they have to represent a provincial concern rather than a scientific one or they’re compromised in some other way,” Paquet told DeSmogBlog. “Its unfortunate.”

Scientist have found themselves fighting for caribou preservation in an impossible set of circumstances, where industry refuses to slow the pace of timber and tar sands development, and the government facilitates this growth in any way possible.

But perhaps that has something to do with the composition of the ACC.

Who Calls the Shots?

The Alberta Caribou Committee is so heavily dominated by timber, oil and gas interests, their public list of members reads like an industry convention brochure:

With such close steps between industry and the caribou recovery strategy, is as if those with industry interests are both calling the shots and pulling the trigger.

This wolf cull seems designed as a concerted effort – at the provincial and federal level – to conceal the cumulative social and environmental impacts of rapid tar sands expansion, keeping the decision-maker power in the hands of a small group of industry and government representatives with an embedded industrial agenda.

It appears the government and industry are willing to export Canada’s natural resources at whatever cost to our society – and it looks like wolves and caribou just got added to that list of expenses.

The question is, are we willing to pay the steep price of our health and heritage to supply polluting fuels to other countries who don’t always share our principles of democracy?

Stop Unethical Oil in its Tracks. Sign DeSmogBlog’s email petition calling on Environment Canada to reject this anti-science attack on wolves. Let’s hold industry accountable for damaging the boreal forest ecosystem, not scapegoat innocent wildlife.