Alberta Government...Wolf Killers

There are a number of factors contributing to the declining woodland caribou populations in Canada. David Suzuki has summed up the dire situation in his piece entitled, Woodland caribou are at a crossroads, where he spells out the need to take action now to protect these beautiful animals.

A not insignificant player in the decreasing numbers of woodland caribou is none other than...you guessed it, the tar sands operation in northeastern Alberta. Just another example of how this poisonous project is destroying our natural world.

Now, in order to protect some of the caribou, the government of Alberta has come up with a most brilliant plan where it "has spent more than $1 million poisoning wolves with strychnine and shooting them from the air."

Out-rageous! How dare they spend my tax dollars on this inhumane, barbaric and vicious program. It makes me utterly ashamed to be a Canadian when I hear of such an idiotic and cruel activity like this taking place.

Do people even give a damn though? In an article from the Edmonton Journal, Senseless Slaughter of Wolves, dated June 11, 2011, veteran wolf biologist Lu Carbyn, who has written and edited several books on wolves is quoted as saying,

More and more, it seems, people are drifting away from the natural world. Part of it is due to urbanization. Part of it may be due to the fact that the new generation has found other ways of entertaining themselves. But I think that the connection we have to the natural world is weakening.

It's not just people who live on this planet you know. We seriously need to come to the realization that we share it with many other creatures who have just as much of a right to exist on it as we do. But then sharing the earth isn't really paramount on most people's minds right now, is it? Especially when it comes to nonhuman animals and especially it would seem, rich, white people. No one gives a damn about indigenous communities and no one gives a damn about nonhuman animals, unless they can be exploited to make a buck or two.

Let me digress a bit and give you just one example, and trust me there are many, of the arrant lack of consideration given to the native communities in this bigoted province. On April 28, 2006, there was a problem at the Syncrude tar sands operation where a toxic cloud of ammonia was released (and in all likelihood, other nasty chemicals as well). The winds that day blew it north to the Cree community of Fort MacKay. The gas entered into the school's ventilation system where as a result, many of the children suffered from nausea, eye irritation, headaches and several had to be rushed to the hospital.

Syncrude said, "Oops", and claimed to fix the problem. The provincial government did nothing.

Weeks later, another noxious cloud was released, but this time the wind carried it south to Fort McMurray. Oh, oh, I hear there's lots of white people there...WITH MONEY! When the people of Fort McMurray complained, the government sent in mobile units which detected high levels of ammonia. MLA Guy Boutilier ordered the plant shut down. The cloud dispersed and thankfully no one was seriously harmed.

But hang on, how come when the people of Fort MacKay complained of the exact same thing nothing was done? Oh, I see, because they're just a bunch of indigent Indians and nobody gives a fuck about them. Well thank you for clearing that up government of Alberta (fuckin' rednecks!).

When natural systems begin to collapse all around us, that means that sentient, feeling, living, breathing individual creatures are dieing. They are being killed, either directly, in the case of this ridiculous Alberta government wolf murdering program (or another pride of Canada, the seal hunt), or because of habitat destruction, due to mega projects like the rotten tar sands.

All in the name of jobs and the economy. Jobs, economy, jobs, economy, so goes the mantra, as we wander like zombies eating up everything in our path. Sure, the economy is important, but good God man, so is the natural world! Is it so difficult to behave in such a manner where we actually pause to consider the interests of all those who will be affected by our actions, including wildlife, before we decide to act?

"It's not what you do, it's the way that you do it", someone once said. Bullshit! What kind of sociopathic approach is that? "Well, here I am working at the tar sands driving a big dump truck responsible for raping the earth, but Goddammit am I ever good at what I do." It's absolutely what we do that matters. Our actions have consequences, and when those actions hurt or kill others we have a moral obligation to stop what we're doing and change our conduct. Then find a more ethical way to make a living.

As more and more people decide to have more and more babies there is less and less space on this world for everyone. Not only for us but for our nonhuman animal kin as well. And in the battle for space on this planet, it's the animals who lose, time after time after time. People just can't seem to divest themselves of that vile biblical refrain,

Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. 

What a crock of shit. What a tremendously ignorant and arrogant way of looking at the natural world, and people still believe that garbage...even many atheists. And oh how we have heeded those words. It's what drives our precious economy. Exploit, destroy, get government off our back so there's no regulation, use up, move on.

And the band played on.

Here is the story from the Edmonton Journal Senseless slaughter of wolves June 11, 2011