Help Protect Ontario's Wolves

As one of few remaining places on earth that is home to 2 unique wolf species, Ontario has an opportunity to become a world leader in wolf conservation. We need your help to make this a reality and end persecution once and for all.

Ontario had previously been recognized as one of the top 3 worst jurisdictions in the world for wolf protection. It wasn't so long ago that the province offered a bounty to reward people who killed wolves.

Following intensive campaigning and pressure from concerned citizens, the provincial government began to restrict wolf killing across the majority ...

As one of few remaining places on earth that is home to 2 unique wolf species, Ontario has an opportunity to become a world leader in wolf conservation. We need your help to make this a reality and end persecution once and for all.

Ontario had previously been recognized as one of the top 3 worst jurisdictions in the world for wolf protection. It wasn't so long ago that the province offered a bounty to reward people who killed wolves.

Following intensive campaigning and pressure from concerned citizens, the provincial government began to restrict wolf killing across the majority of wolf range in 2004, signalling a positive change in direction.

However, wolf conservation has stalled over the last few years. In the North, both wolves and coyotes are being scapegoated for moose declines, and the threatened Algonquin wolf remains unprotected throughout the majority of its suspected range in central Ontario.

Wolves require large tracts of undisturbed wilderness to behave naturally and meaningfully contribute to the ecological integrity of the Ontario wilderness.

Photo credit: Julie DeRoche

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image of Help Protect Ontario's Wolves

Ask Ontario to lead the pack

As the government remains undecided about rolling back wolf protection under the pretence of boosting declining moose populations in the North, we need to remind them that wolf conservation must always be a priority.

We'll send your email to your MPP as well as the Minister of Environment Conservation and Parks, and the Minister of Natural Resources and Forestry.

Find your local rep

Subject:

cc Minister Yakabuski and Minister Yurek

Rarely do wolves receive the conservation priority they deserve. With the two different wolf species in our great province, we have the opportunity to demonstrate real leadership to ensure that the at-risk Algonquin wolf recovers and that the grey wolves in the north remain the resilient, biodiversity-supporting keystone species they evolved to be.

We ask that you prioritize wolf conservation by:
- Abandoning the proposal to liberalize wolf and coyote hunting in the north, since it is unlikely to benefit moose and will negatively impact these essential carnivores
- Banning sport hunting in all protected areas
- Updating the Strategy for Wolf Conservation in Ontario with new science
- Banning all wolf snaring and instituting trapping bag limits
- Protecting wolves and coyotes from being hunted or trapped across suspected Algonquin wolf range to allow for this threatened species to recover
- Studying non-lethal livestock depredation prevention to support farmers in wolf and coyote range
- Releasing a science-based Recovery Strategy for the Algonquin wolf and immediately instituting all actions recommended therein

Cumulatively, both of Ontario's wolf species are only adequately protected on less than 5% of their range in the province. There are only a few protected areas large enough to sustain a viable wolf population - even the newly protected buffers around Killarney, Kawartha Highlands and Queen Elizabeth II Wildlands are too small.

Our parks play a pivotal role in conserving habitat for wolves and other species, and Ontario is fortunate to hold a vast and vital system of protected areas.  Yet, when it comes to wolf habitat, parks act as islands with no protected corridors adjoining them.  Research continually points to the fact that wolf populations need large contiguous areas of protected wilderness in order to thrive. Hunting and trapping these carnivores should be off-limits in many more areas.

Changes to social structure and reproduction allow persecuted wolf populations to bounce back quickly a lot of the time, even when highly persecuted. But wolves are more than mere numbers. These highly social and cooperative hunters and breeders need to be conserved with their innate and complex behaviours in mind. Keeping critical wolf habitat areas free of hunting and trapping is necessary if we want true wilderness in Ontario.

How will you be a leader for wolves in our province?

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