CREDO Action
To make up for the fact that rapid tar sands oil mining is threatening caribou herds by destroying vast swaths of rainforest habitat in Alberta, the Canadian government has called for strychnine poisoning and aerial shooting of thousands of wolves in areas of tar sands mining.1
If Alberta Canada’s tar sands oil fields are fully developed, an area of boreal rainforest the size of Florida will be eviscerated, leaving in its wake only giant ponds of toxic wastewater.2
It’s obvious why this would pose a massive threat to all wildlife species who reside there, including birds, caribou and the iconic spirit bear.
But instead of preserving the habitat caribou need for their survival, the Canadian government’s answer is to blaze ahead with tar sands oil extraction, and kill thousands of wolves who would naturally prey on the caribou. The Ministry of the Environment’s plan calls for aerial shooting, and poisoning with bait laced with strychnine—a particularly painful type of poison.
This plan to kill wolves is a misguided, cruel response that does nothing to alleviate the greater problem—Tar sands development is a huge threat to wildlife, local communities, and all of our futures.
But despite the clear negative consequences, the Canadian government continues working to rapidly expand tar sands production and sales, including with the Keystone XL Pipeline to export tar sands oil all over the world.
Understandably, this has begun to earn Canadian prime Minister Stephen Harper and many in the country’s government a negative reputation, to which they are becoming increasingly sensitive.2
The Ministry of the Environment has not yet moved forward with this planned wolf kill. And with enough public pressure, we can get them to abandon the plan, and build the case for Canada to stop their devastating race to expand tar sands oil fields.
Tell Prime Minister Harper to stop Canada’s planned wolf killings today.
For more information, click here.
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1. “Tar Sands Development to Lead to Poisoning of Wolves,” National Wildlife Federation, Feb. 6, 2012
2. “Tar Sands,” Friends of the Earth
3. “Monitoring plan would bolster oilsands image, federal documents show,” Vancouver Sun, Feb. 3, 2012
Please do not cut corners on environmental safe guards. Wolf kills never are the best policy.
Dear Prime Minister Harper,
Please be a good neighbor and think long-term about the consequences of your actions. Tar sands oil extraction will perform far more harm than good, and the amount of energy and resources required to extract the stuff should quickly negate the idea. I’ve long looked to Canada with appreciation for its vast protected tracts of forest and abundant wildlife. These spaces left intact are far more precious than any short-term financial gain their destruction may bring. Future generations will appreciate greatly your decision to forego these activities and protect your remaining wild places. Poisoning and killing wolves will in turn threaten the entire ecosystem up there. Wolves are an apex predator, a keystone species whose well-being dictates the health and prosperity of the entire natural system around it. Once you’ve destroyed the wolf, the rest will follow. All you need to do is look to what the U.S. did through the early 1930s. And then look at what has been accomplished in Yellowstone National Park as a result of wolf reintroduction. Truly remarkable. That is something that more dirty oil certainly is not.
Thank you for not destroying your true valuables in Canada. Upon your decision rides my choice to travel to Canada in the future…
In good conscience,
Nelson Brooke
Birmingham, AL
Please, Canada!
IS ANYONE PAYING ATTENTION TO THE VAST AMOUNT OF BOREAL FOREST BEING EVISCERATED TO GET AT THE TAR SANDS?? THESE FORESTS SUCK UP TREMENDOUS AMOUNTS OF CO2. CUTTING THEM DOWN TO ACCESS A FOSSIL FUEL LOADED WITH CO2 BURNS THE CANDLE AT BOTH ENDS. YOU CREATE IT AND THEN DON’T SUCK IT BACK UP. THE MERE ACT OF TAPPING INTO THE SAND BURNS FOSSIL FUEL. THEN YOU DISRUPT AND EXPOSE THE VOLATILE HYDROCARBONS PREVIOUSLY LOCKED AWAY BENEATH THE SOIL CAUSING MORE ATMOSPHERIC POLLUTION. THEN YOU USE FUEL TO TRANSPORT AND REFINE THIS CRUD. THEN YOU BURN THE FINISHED PRODUCT AND OUT COMES POLLUTION FROM THE TAIL PIPE. I URGE YOU ALL TO GO TO GOOGLE SATELLITE, MOVE THE CURSOR OVER THE ATHABASCA TAR SAND AREA AND TAKE A PEAK. YOU WILL SEE A MOONSCAPE BIGGER THAN THE STATE OF OHIO. NOW, DO YOU WANT TO PLAY GAMES WITH THIS ANYMORE. WHY DON’T WE JUST CUT DOWN HALF THE AMAZON?????? SAME THING BEING DONE IN CANADA.
IT’S WRONG AND WE DON’T NEED IT!
Please make the petition available for us guys in the UK to sign too! We want to stop the wolf kills too!
The treatment of wolves continues to be horrific…. If this is what is going on, it is another smear on Alberta’s reputation…
BUT – since when did Alberta have Rainforest??? (first sentence in first paragraph…)and the iconic spirit bear does not live in Albert either (only in BC)…. Check that your facts are correct.
As I first read about this I thought back to the wolf wars in the early 20th Century United States and how at one time that practice of wolf elimination was considered to be beneficial to the social and ecological systems, but how quickly we learned the devasting reprocussions of our ignorance. And here we are today, have we learned nothing from our past? Progress is not repeating our failures, it’s learning from them and making good choices accordingly. That’s my heart on the wolves, but there is another issue wrapped up in this. How can we enhance alternative energy technologies if our resources are still being put into the dead end fossil fuels. We have the benefit of knowing our fate (of fossil fuels), yet we do nothing about it. And we still consider ourselves the most intelligent being on earth, hah! While the rest of the biota is adapting to the changes in the environment, we sit idle like idiots and do nothing. So Canada, and the rest of the world who fails to learn from the mistakes of our ancestors, who fails to make real progress for humanity, and for the earth… how’s that working for you? How’s that working for your kids? How’s that going to work for their kids, or don’t you care? As they are forced into a state of destitution, they’ll reflect back on our current society and wonder why, what did they have against us?