As British Columbia mulls continued wolf-killing to save caribou, critics say habitat loss is the real threat

British Columbia is weighing a five-year extension of its decade-old wolf cull, which has killed roughly 2,800 wolves since 2015 at a cost of about C$13 million to protect endangered woodland caribou, whose population has more than halved in three decades. Provincial data show caribou numbers rising where wolves are culled, but scientists say habitat loss from logging, mining and pipelines — not wolves — is the bigger threat, and the program has continued well past its original billing as a short-term emergency measure.

The province is consulting roughly 70 First Nations, landowners and environmental groups ahead of an October decision, but unlike the last extension has made no public announcement or broader public engagement. A 2026 survey by Pacific Wild found about three-quarters of British Columbians oppose any wolf killing, up from 59% opposition in a 2021 government survey, even though most respondents in both surveys said caribou recovery matters. Contractors shoot entire wolf packs from helicopters each winter, killing 80-90% of predators in a given area, sometimes causing slow deaths, according to Pacific Wild.

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