“CRY WOLF: An Unethical Oil Story”……

I know we are battling to save wolves in the lower 48 but we can’t ignore the terrible tragedy taking place in Canada. Alberta is waging war on its wolves. It’s the same story over and over, money, greed and power.

Tar Sands oil development is destroying caribou habitat in Alberta. Instead of  dealing with the loss of caribou habitat caused by industrial development, the Alberta government has decided to poison thousands of wolves to “increase” caribou numbers,  even though it’s been proven wolves consume mainly deer (80%) and just 10% caribou.

Strychnine laced bait is being used to poison the wolves. If anyone has ever witnessed an animal suffer from strychnine poisoning you will never forget it. My dog was poisoned with strychnine and suffered terrible Grand Mal seizures.  Luckily she survived but not without swift medical attention and even then she almost died. The Alberta wolves are not so lucky.

“Strychnine progresses painfully from muscle spasms to convulsions to suffocation over a period of hours.  The NWF paper says the poison will also put at risk animals like raptors, wolverines and cougars that eat the poisoned bait or scavenge on the carcasses of poisoned wildlife.” (The Wildlife Promise)

The following video exposes the Alberta government plan to slaughter wolves, distracting from the real killer of caribou, loss of critical habitat due to Tar Sands development.

Published on Apr 10, 2012 by DesmogBlog

“DeSmogBlog investigates the controversial decision by Alberta’s government to ignore the threat of rapid industrial expansion in the Alberta Tar Sands region, and instead kill thousands of wolves to appear to be doing something to save dwindling woodland caribou populations. Through interviews with scientists, wildlife experts and a First Nations chief, the myth of Canada’s “ethical oil” is further exposed as oil industry greenwashing.”

Learn more at:

http://www.DeSmogBlog.com/CryWolf

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Unethical Oil: Why Is Canada Killing Wolves and Muzzling Scientists To Protect Tar Sands Interests?

CAROL LINNITT

14 February 12 at 2:36am

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 disruptive 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.

Conservation and environmental groups are being falsely attacked as ‘radical ideologues’ and ‘saboteurs’. Neighbors are pitted against each other while important decisions about the future prosperity of all Canadians are rigged to favor the interests of multinational oil companies and foreign investors.

The wolf cull is ostensibly designed to protect northern Alberta’s woodland caribou, a species that in recent years has become critically threatened. But scientists have ridiculed the plan, saying this sort of ‘wildlife management’ turns the wolf into an innocent scapegoat, while the real culprit – the province’s aggressive timber, oil and gas development – is spared any real scrutiny or accountability.

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

Read more: Unethical Oil: Why Is Canada Killing Wolves and Muzzling Scientists To Protect Tar Sands Interests?
Desmogblog (http://s.tt/199RS)

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Wolves to be Poisoned Over Tar Sands in Canada

from Wildlife Promise

 2/6/2012 // Tony Iallonardo

“Wolf pups are likely innocent victims of Canadian oil and gas development.”

Late last week, internal documents went public showing Canada is fretting over its sullied reputation for unfettered fossil fuel development, while resorting to poisoning wolves rather than fixing the problem. NWF released a paper today showing tar sands, oil and gas development in Canada is contributing to the decline in caribou herds.  Rather than improve environmental practices to protect and restore caribou habitat, Canadian wildlife officials are poisoning wolves with strychnine-laced bait.  The news comes as Alberta and Canadian officials scramble to address environmental monitoring failures that are wreaking havoc up north.

The highly controversial Keystone XL pipeline proposal would move this Canadian dirty oil through the heartland of the U.S. to export, making the U.S. complicit in causing excruciating wildlife culling.

Strychnine progresses painfully from muscle spasms to convulsions to suffocation over a period of hours.  The NWF paper says the poison will also put at risk animals like raptors, wolverines and cougars that eat the poisoned bait or scavenge on the carcasses of poisoned wildlife.

Here’s what Canada’s Minister of Environment Peter Kent said in September:  “Culling is an accepted if regrettable scientific practice and means of controlling populations and attempting to balance what civilization has developed.  I’ve got to admit, it troubles me that that’s what is necessary to protect this species,” Kent commented. Simon Dyer of the Pembina Institute estimates that many thousands of wolves could be destroyed over five years.

Instead of resorting to euphemistic descriptions of a repugnant method of killing, Mr. Kent and Canadian officials should be stopping the habitat destruction in the first place.  Destroying and fragmenting caribou habitat to produce one of the dirtiest fuels on the planet means fewer caribou and fewer wolves just to line the pockets of Big Oil.

It’s increasingly par for the course in Canada, as the nation continues its slide from “Green to Gray.” What’s disturbing is that Keystone XL commits the U.S. to a decades-long partnership in these ”crimes” against wildlife.

http://blog.nwf.org/2012/02/wolves-being-poisoned-over-tar-sands-in-canada/

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Maps Show Tar Sands Sprawl in Caribou Habitat: Could Resolve Problem with 1% of Industry Profits, says Scientist

26 June 12 at 5:00am

http://www.desmogblog.com/maps-show-tar-sands-sprawl-caribou-habitat-could-resolve-problem-1-industry-profits-says-scientist

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PLEASE SIGN

Petitioning Environment Canada

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Stop Killing Wolves To Hide Tar Sands Impacts on Wildlife

Environment Canada

Environment Canada: Tell Canada to stop the wolf slaughter!

https://www.change.org/petitions/environment-canada-tell-canada-to-stop-the-wolf-slaughter

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Wolves are persecuted world-wide.  The pain and suffering inflicted upon them is beyond imagining.

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Top Photo: Courtesy Desmogblog

Middle Photo: Wolfpups_Dodie_219X219.jpg

Posted in: Wolf Wars, Alberta Wolf Slaughter, Activism

Tags: Alberta, wolf cull, wolf persecution, Tar Sands development,  caribou habitat loss, strychnine, Alberta Caribou Committee, Alberta Department of Energy, Canada