B.C.’s helicopter wolf cull underway in northeast region after Kootenay hunt

VICTORIA – British Columbia’s controversial helicopter hunt for wolves meant to save endangered caribou herds has shifted from the Kootenays to the northeast.

The Resource Operations Ministry said in a statement Friday that the cull in the South Selkirk region ended recently, but it will not provide current wolf-kill figures until both hunts are complete.

The ministry said the aerial wolf hunt is now underway in the northeast’s South Peace region, near Chetwynd.

Earlier this year, the government said it planned to shoot 200 wolves in the second year of its five-year plan to save endangered caribou herds.

The ministry rejects claims by B.C.’s Wildlife Defence League that all wolves in the South Selkirk area were killed except one.

The ministry says many South Selkirk wolves have been radio-collared, and wolves with territory that isn’t in caribou habitat and are not posing a risk to caribou have not been removed.