Bob Truman, First Place Realty

I'm happy to see a number of new signatures on the petition, thank you.

For those who didn't know, Alberta has already been poisoning wolves for three years. From the Alberta Wilderness Association:

Wolf control has been carried out in the territory of the Little Smoky caribou herd, north of Hinton, for the past three winters (155 wolves were killed between 2005 and 2007). Initially, wolves were shot from helicopters and left to rot where they fell. Now thecheaper option of poisoning is also being used, bringing with it the additional risks of incidental poisoning of other species, particularly predators such as eagles which feed on the wolf carcasses.

"This latest wolf control program is nominally targeted at recovering populations of threatened woodland caribou,” says Nigel Douglas, AWA conservation specialist. “But it is being done in the complete absence of any measures to deal with the loss of habitat, which is the real cause of the troubles for caribou.”

The Alberta government’s own Alberta Woodland Caribou Recovery Plan (2005) made it clear that killing wolves will not recover caribou: “Ultimately, habitat conservation and management is the fundamental tool to reduce undue predation on caribou…Predator control will not succeed as a sole, or predominant, tool for caribou recovery.”

Read more Alberta's war on wolves

Canmore-based Defenders of Wildlife Canada say the province is perhaps becoming a little more sensitive to public concerns over its "bar-room biology" approach to managing wildlife.

Jim Pissot, the group's executive director, said Albertans do not want to see wolves pay the price for provincial mismanagement of their wildlife

"Albertans care about wolves, grizzlies, wilderness and the pace of unplanned development," said Pissot.

"Perhaps the province is beginning to realize that a caribou 'recovery plan' that poisons wolves while encouraging roads, developments and other habitat destruction in critical habitat is nothing but a fraud and a hoax."

Read the full story Poisoning of wolves halted

This story from the Rocky Mountain Outlook newspaper in Canmore:

A cloak of confidentiality surrounds an Alberta university's approval process for a publicly funded experiment to kill wolves and their pups on public lands as part of a plan to boost elk numbers.

The University of Alberta is refusing to release any information surrounding the approval by its Animal Care and Use Committee of the experiment along Alberta's east slopes near Rocky Mountain House. The province is funding part of this research.

Dr. Toni Bayans, the U of A's veterinarian in the research ethics office, said the experiment was vetted by the university's Animal Care and Use Committee, but said all documents and materials produced by the committee are confidential.

She would not say whether the experiment presented to the committee specifically approved sterilization and lethal removal of sub-adults, or provide an explanation as to why the information is so confidential.

Bayans did, however, say the university has been informed that Alberta Sustainable Resource Development is striking two separate committees to review "concerns expressed over the proposed research protocol".

"I have no more details than that," said Bayans. "We are most interested in their findings."

The aim of the university's five-year experiment is to reduce wolf numbers in four packs to two individuals by sterilizing the alpha males and females, and destroying other wolves in the packs.

The idea is that by keeping wolf packs small along the central east slopes of Alberta, elk herds may increase, not only to boost threatened caribou numbers, but also to bolster elk numbers for humans to hunt.

If the experiment works, the Alberta government would consider using this method to control wolf numbers.

Wolves are being fitted with collars this year so researchers can monitor the social behaviour among packs. Depending on the results, the plan would be to begin the actual sterilization and killing next year.

Because the proposal involves wolf capture, euthanasia and sterilization, the experiment must meet the guidelines of the Canadian Council on Animal Care (CCAC), which is responsible for overseeing the use of animals in research and testing.

Participation in the program is mandatory for academic institutions and the University of Alberta follows this program. Failure to adhere to the guidelines and policies may lead to suspension of funding for research programs and or institutions.

Dr. Paul Paquet, considered Canada's preeminent wolf expert and one of many scientists to contribute to the CCAC guidelines, said he has no idea how the experiment was ever approved by the university's animal care committee in the first place.

If the committee did approve the experiment, he said the committee's actions should then be reviewed.

"From what I've seen of the proposal, assuming the proposal we reviewed is the proposal vetted by the ethics committee, it's inconceivable that it could be approved based on the established and restrictive policies for animal care," he said.

"In terms of scientific efficacy, it was very poor as well."

Paquet, who holds a PhD in zoology from the U of A and is an adjunct associate professor in the faculty of environmental design at the University of Calgary, said he is even more astounded that the information is not being made public.

"There's something going on. I can't understand why they're so reluctant to talk about these things publicly. It doesn't make any sense," he said.

"If you followed protocol, what would be the reason for not releasing the information? It has to be defensible and it has to be available for the public."

Jim Pissot, executive director of Canmore-based Defenders of Wildlife Canada, says he remains astounded that the information on the animal care committee's approval of this experiment is so confidential.

"These are public funds in a public university dealing with public wildlife on public land and it is unconscionable that the public should not have full details of research proposals," he said.

"As I said to the university, since they will not disclose this information, it's clear they probably have something to hide and the public deserves to know what that is."

Read the full story here University refuses to release wolf study information

We've won a small victory: Controversial Wolf Sterilization plan Scrapped Thank you to everyone who signed the petition.