ACTION ALERT ! Big Lakes Alberta Wolf Bounty.

On behalf of the Canadian Wolf Coalition, of which we are a part.

Please help us put an end to this misguided cruelty.
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Problem: Rural Municipality of Big Lakes Alberta began offering a $300 bounty on wolves in September 2010. In just In just 7 months 63 wolves killed and claimed!

Why?: Because not all of these wolves have killed livestock, and many likely never would have.

Because the executives of the Big Lakes rural municipality refuse to respond to our concerns and recommendations, or even those of Fish and Wildlife who presented to the council about alternative solutions.

This is $18,900 paid out in tax dollars which could have gone to prevention through improved husbandry practices, education about how to reduce conflicts between predators and livestock, or many other areas in need of funding???

Will the bounty work? No! Because decades of research show that bounties are not effective in the long term for reducing livestock losses to predators, so wolves are being killed needlessly. Other wolves will move in to fill vacant territories. Remember that not all wolves kill livestock.

Issues: What right does this municipality have to disrupt a top predator that is a natural resource to You? The ecological role of wolves as top predators and keystone species means they help maintain biodiversity and healthy ecosystems.

· This unethical act in the name of livestock protection is NOT being supported by Alberta Agriculture.

· Livestock producers need to take some responsibility and promote responsible husbandry practices.

· Many of the wolves being claimed are not even by livestock producers! This is a cash grab.

Action: Phone or e-mail the following people to let them know that you do not support these unnecessary actions in the name of livestock loss prevention. Wolf bounties are immoral and irresponsible.  Please politely urge them to do what they can to see this stopped!

Please cc: info@northernlightswildlife.com on all emails.



People to Contact:

Municipal council through the executive secretary of the Big Lakes Municipality (Amanda) execsecretary@mdbiglakes.ca


780-523-5955 or toll free 1-866-523-5955

Association of Alberta Agriculture Fieldmen for Municipal District of Big Lakes agassist@mdbiglakes.ca 780-523-5955


agriculture@mdbiglakes.ca 780-523-5955

Alberta Minister of Agriculture Jack Hayden agriculture.minister@gov.ab.ca 780-427-2137


Alberta Sustainable Resource Development Mel Knight srd.infocent@gov.ab.ca 780-415-4815

Alberta Minister of Environment Rob Renner complaints: 1-800-222-6514 env.infocent@gov.ab.ca

Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach premier@gov.ab.ca  780-427-2251

Alberta Fish and Wildlife program manager enforcement field services steven.cross@gov.ab.ca

Visit Canadian Wolf Coalition’s website for more information:  http://www.canadianwolfcoalition.com/

Deer article from "Ancaster News"

Deer kill may spur more breeding, zoologist contends MNR report supporting hunt lacks science, committee told

By RICHARD LEITNER, NEWS STAFF

Feb 23, 2011

There are many good reasons to leave the deer at Iroquoia Heights Conservation Area alone, a zoologist for a leading animal-welfare group says – including that they will just breed more if threatened by hunting.

Dr. David Lavigne, science advisor to the International Fund for Animal Welfare, told a committee studying the situation that whether the area has too many deer is a value judgment, not a scientific one.

For that reason, he objects to York University forest ecologist Dawn Bazely’s recent assertion that support for a deer hunt must “overcome the emotionally rooted perception of deer as Bambi.” Lavigne said although Bazely’s assessment of the ecological impact of deer overpopulation is based in science, her conclusion that a hunt is necessary is no more scientific than an anti-hunt “wanted” poster featuring a frightened deer in gun sights.

Scientific discourse “It is full of emotional and political discourse, not scientific discourse,” he told the Hamilton Conservation Authority’s deer management advisory committee.

“People purporting to be scientists will accuse those who are defending the animals as being emotional. Well, humans are emotional, but I don’t think Bambi lovers are any more or less emotional than those who promote culling.” The Ministry of Natural Resources conducted an aerial survey in January 2009 that counted 102 in a 66-hectare section of Iroquoia Heights – 90 more than it considers healthy – and is recommending a cull.

In a presentation last October, Bazely told the committee it’s “not debatable” that deer populations of more than 10 per square kilometre kill future trees because they eat any new growth up to two metres above ground.

While she said any decision to kill deer to save trees is a value judgment, she also accused the Animal Alliance of Canada of exploiting the “Bambi” factor to oppose any hunt and of ignoring the damage deer are doing at Iroquois Heights.

Lavigne, a former University of Guelph zoology professor, said killing the deer may have unintended consequences, including that they will breed more if their numbers drop, requiring ongoing hunts to keep their population down.

But he also cautioned the committee against using a single survey to justify the hunt, criticizing the MNR’s conclusion that failing to act will only see numbers rise.

“How can you talk about a population increase or increased damage when you haven’t established a baseline, collected a series of data points and done the analysis?” Lavigne said.

“This, I would argue, is not science.” Tony Perri, who lives in the area and sits on the authority’s board of directors, said he agrees whether or not to allow a hunt is a value judgment, but his decision will be based on what’s best for humans.

He said there may be ways to avoid a hunt, like better lighting on dark stretches of road where they pose a traffic hazard, but public safety is his priority.

“I can live with them eating my vegetables and I don’t have a vegetable garden anymore.

We still get excited when one of the kids says, ‘Oh, there’s a deer in the backyard.’ Everybody jumps up,” Perri said.

“What I don’t want on my conscience is some parent saying to me the worst thing happened because you guys didn’t do anything about the deer overpopulation.” The conservation authority is seeking the public’s input on the deer debate, including through surveys mailed to about 400 homes in the immediate vicinity of Iroquoia Heights.

The survey is available online at http://www.conservationhamilton.ca/iroquoia- heights-community-survey.

The Weeks Ahead

It has been a busy few weeks to say the least!

Liz was just in Ottawa and will be back there again for another Human - Wildlife Conflict Committee meeting on Tuesday.

The following Wednesday we'll be back on Hamilton for another meeting of the Iroquoia Heights Deer Management Advisory Committee.  Dr. David Lavigne, Science Advisor for IFAW Canada, will be making a presentation on 'overabundance'.  There were a number of residents present at the meeting in January because of the controversy surrounding the Dundas Valley deer hunt that happened in December.  I suspect that there will be several residents present again.

This Thursday Liz will be at a Toronto and Region Conservation Authority (TRCA) meeting regarding geese.  The TRCA has been very progressive on cormorants, so it is our hope that a similar approach will be taken with geese, indeed with all animals under the purview of the TRCA.

We continue to work with residents in Howley, NL to care for a colony of feral cats.  Just this morning we were contacted by a resident of Corner Brook on the same issue.  There are so many good people working to help these unfortunate creatures, it gives us great hope that things are moving in the right direction.  Rescue groups all over the world are scrambling to help these homeless cats, and a number of excellent documents have been produced in the process.  A number of municipalities and rescue groups in the United States have set the bar pretty high!  For 2011, both Toronto Animal Services and the Toronto Humane Society have a goal of sterilizing 500 feral cats each.  We have confidence that this goal can be met and exceeded in the years to come.

And all this amidst other on-going issues...Thank you to everyone for making this work for the animals possible!

Lia, Liz and the AAC crew

How to Know You've Won the Argument

Bambi has a lot to do with it


By: Barry Kent MacKay


Recently I got into one of those silly online debates, this one with a guy who believes that feeding birds is bad for the environment. It started with a gentleman in Los Angeles enquiring of a list for birdwatchers about what to feed a hummingbird in his very urban neighbourhood. Anyway, while there are certainly risks involved to the birds from things such as mouldy food, picture windows and cats – even disease transmission risks that can be enhanced when birds concentrate at garden feeders – to categorically dismiss bird feeding and bird feeders seems a bit much. But that is what one correspondent did, and I took him on.


We moved the debate offline and I knew I had won, although he wouldn’t say so, when he wrote: “For you it seems, the boundaries of your yard form the limits of the universe; what you can witness, the limit of reality; and the present consequences, the only ones there will ever be. For you it seems, looking at a situation from a scientific point of view is being biased, there is no distinction between the natural and the artificial, and an impact is only of concern if it involves disease or death.”


To this he added: “At least this exchange has allowed me to gain some more insight into how bird feeding enthusiasts view themselves and the world.”


Of course it had done no such thing. There is no solid, ideological block of “bird feeding enthusiasts”, and his earlier comments are simply condescending. And they are only comments, not arguments. The only argument he had mounted was a vague reference to a study in Alaska that showed a ten percent rate of beak deformity in chickadees and apparently suggested that perhaps the high fat content of bird feeder food was in some way responsible. My response to that was to point out that my mentor, the late Dr. J. Murray Speirs, had colour-banded the chickadees that had come to his feeders in Pickering over many years, keeping meticulous notes, and had noted no such morbidity. I remember him casually pointing to one colour-marked chickadee and saying it was into its eighth year, a good age for a small songbird.


I find that when one is debating on behalf of, well, anything, but certainly animals, it’s a good indication one has won when the other side resorts to insults.


One insult we, who work daily to try to protect animals from various forms of abuse and persecution, often hear is reference to “the Bambi Syndrome”. It refers to a Walt Disney movie released to theatres in 1942. I have a confession: I’ve never seen it. I don’t know if it is based on a written story, but if so, I’ve never read it. I’ve seen enough trailers to know it’s a feature length cartoon about a make-believe fawn who is orphaned, I think to a forest fire, but even as a child I wasn’t that fond of anthropomorphic stories about animals.


But it is much, much easier for our critics to assume that we have somehow been corrupted and misdirected by a 69 year old film than to address the merit, or lack thereof, of the arguments we present.


Don’t misunderstand me; there may be people on all sides of any issue who will defend their goals from positions of weakness, from misunderstanding. Nature is infinitely complex and we who seek to defend wildlife are all continually learning new things about the interrelationships between animals and the environment and people. But that is why issues should be argued on the basis of what is known, and why values must be identified as something distinct from always developing information, said information being judged on merit.


And we have to avoid falling into the insult trap. If I had any advice to advocates it would be to keep to what you know and critically analyse the arguments made against your position; take nothing for granted.


And finally, be prepared, if you work to help wildlife, to be told you have a “hidden agenda”. It ties the “Bambi Syndrome” as the most often heard accusation in place of solid debate. There’s nothing “hidden” about it. We are here to work against the destruction of wildlife; we can’t always succeed, and we know the value we place in compassion is far from universal. But that is what we do, what are supporters demand of us, and our best assets are facts. When the insults start it’s a good sign the other side has run out of reason; it’s a good sign we’ve won the debate, whether or not that translates into a win for the animals.


Barry Kent MacKay is a Director for AAC, Zoocheck Canada and Born Free USA United with The Animal Protection Institute. He is an author and artist. Barry assists AAC primarily on various bird and wildlife issues.

We did it! THANK YOU!

We won $1,000 from the Shelter Challenge! Thank you all SO much for voting for Project Jessie! Your support from day 1 was just outstanding, we really cannot thank you enough. Especially at this time of year, we are reminded that there are good people in this world, working together, for the animals.

From all of us at Animal Alliance and Project Jessie, our most heartfelt thanks.

Lia and the AAC / PJ crew

P.S. That's Munch, in the pic above. Munch is a big, affectionate and charming bunny boy!

He is sweet and affectionate, curious and inquisitive. This is THE bunny for the first time adopter, or for the experienced person looking for a great companion. Because he is a big boy, he needs an environment where he can have some space to stretch out. He is not a bunny for a small cage.

He loves to jump up on the bed, or sit beside you on the couch. He is a very cuddly boy!

Munch is neutered and house trained.

If you are looking for a charming and delightful new companion, please call or e-mail Shelly at 519-940-4712 / shelly@animalalliance.ca

Dundas Valley Deer in trouble - vote today!

For those who have voiced opposition to Hamilton's consideration of a deer cull at Iroquoia Heights - THANK YOU!

The link below is about the Dundas Valley Conservation Area where a deer hunt is now taking place. Please take a moment to read the article and vote on the poll about hunting on HCA lands.

http://www.thespec.com/news/local/article/303858--deer-hunt-is-a-native-tradition-dating-back-thousands-of-years

Click on the following link for more information on Hamilton's Iroquoia Heights Deer Management Advisory Committee.

The next meeting is scheduled for January 19th, 2011, 7-10pm, in the HCA Auditorium, 838 Mineral Springs Road, Ancaster. The following meeting will be held Wednesday February 16th.

Members of the public are encouraged to review the Committee's Terms of Reference and meeting Minutes. All meetings are open to the public. If you would like to address the Committee, you must contact the Secretary, Shari Faulkenham, to do so.

We need to make sure that the City implements a non-lethal approach to the deer. Please send a letter to the Mayor and Members of Council urging them to implement a non-lethal prevention programme for the deer in Iroquoia Heights and throughout the City of Hamilton.

THANK YOU all again, for being a voice for the animals.

Lia and the AAC crew

THANK YOU!!!

Hurray! We did it!

We made the finals of the AVIVA community fund contest.

Thank you so much to everyone who voted - the support was awesome!

Now the finalist ideas go to the AVIVA group of judges, and winners will be announced January 25th... fingers crossed!

Today is also the last day to get your requests in for Project Jessie Christmas adoption packages. If you were planning on ordering one for that "hard to gift" person on your list, you can phone the office at 416-462-9541 or email Lia (lia@animalalliance.ca)

And while we don't recommend giving pets as gifts, if you are having a quiet holiday and were thinking of adopting a new friend for yourself, please remember that Project Jessie has many lovely animals looking for permanent homes right now. Perhaps you can find a perfect new friend to share the holidays with? Feel free to email me and I will be happy to chat with you about the creatures we have and whether there is a potential match.

Thanks everyone! And a safe and happy holiday to you and your families!

Shelly and crew