A revised Yukon Wolf Management Plan has been released(first updated mgmt plan since 1992) .........The Yukon Conservation Society is asking for a longer public comment period to debate the recommendations that include closer managing of wolves(culls) to reduce predation rates on caribou and moose................Very little if anything discussed about the health of the land when caribou and moose populations fall..................The mantra heard is always:" kill wolves, increase hoofed browsers"......It does not matter whether the discussion is taking place in the Yukon, Idaho or Minnesota..............Here is an analogy from our music listening habits that is apropos to our discussions on carnivore management: I feel we are stuck playing 33.3 long playing records,,,,,,,,cd's and downloads are not even in the discussion (see George Wuerthner' WOLF HUNTS MORALLY CORRUPT article in this blogs Friday, Sept 2 Post)

More input needed on Yukon wolf management plan

 

The Yukon Conservation Society wants the territorial government to extend the deadline for public input on its wolf management plan, saying the consultation period took place over the summer while many Yukoners were on vacation.

This wolf was spotted on the Teslin River by Whitehorse resident Adam Skrutkowski on April 22. There are upwards of 4,500 wolves in Yukon, according to government estimates.Adam Skrutkowski
The Recommended Yukon Wolf Conservation and Management Plan was released on Aug. 2 and comments are due by the end of Wednesday but environmentalists say more time is needed.
Some of those recommendations include managing the wolf population to reduce predation rates among caribou and moose. The report also suggests eliminating aerial control operations.
Karen Baltgailis, executive director of the Yukon Conservation Society, said a new plan was needed but few were paying attention to the issue over the summer.
"How many people even are aware that this plan has come out?" she said.
Baltgailis said her organization is also concerned that the proposed recommendations allow officials to call for a wolf cull in cases of "emergency" without explaining what would constitute one.
According to the Yukon government there are around 4,500 wolves in the territory and around 215 are trapped or hunted each year.

The last wolf management plan was put in place in 1992.
In April, rural Yukon hunters called on the government to loosen harvesting regulations to protect moose, caribou and sheep populations.