Outside of national and provincial parks in Alberta, there is minimal information available on how to safely avoid and manage cougar-human conflicts. The Cougar Coexistence Project looks to solve this issue by educating communities, specifically in areas known to have cougars, and the public on how to properly recreate, manage, and live in coexistence with Cougars in Alberta.
The Trapped In the Past Campaign is working toward a complete ban on the use of snares for commercial trapping. This campaign also looks to update all trapping regulations for fur-bearing mammals to be based on modern-day science and ethics as well as to better reflect the current values of society.
This project involves a combination of fieldwork, research and interviews with experts and stakeholders as well as public outreach, educational programs, and advocacy efforts to change Canada’s outdated trapping regulations and policies.
We urge you to get involved, learn more, and support the ethical treatment of large apex predators like wolves, coyotes, lynx and wolverines!
After research in the early 2000s showed a struggling grizzly bear population in Alberta, the trophy hunt was banned and the grizzly bear was listed as a Threatened species. Recent data released in March 2021 indicates that Alberta grizzlies are starting to rebound and the Environment Minister has gone on record suggesting that the province might bring back the hunt.
The first part of this campaign involved raising awareness for this issue across Canada by collaborating with the Grizzly Bear Foundation to create the documentary In the Crosshairs: The Road to Recovery for Alberta’s Threatened Grizzly Bears.
As a part of the second part of this campaign, we have commissioned bear expert Dr. Sarah Elmeligi to address the gaps found in Alberta’s 2020 Grizzly Bear Recovery plan and provide us with actionable and realistic solutions to ensure that the recovery of Alberta’s grizzlies continues.
Alberta banned grizzly bear hunting in 2006 and in 2010, grizzlies were classified as Threatened in the province. But now new research is expected to show an increase in some Alberta grizzly bear populations and many suspect the UCP government will use this new data to reintroduce the trophy hunt. Please help Alberta’s grizzlies now with a donation to support this important project for the production and promotion of a 10-12 minute documentary to raise public awareness.
Watch tHe Doc & Visit The Project PageThe Protect Wolves Project is working toward a complete revamping of how Canadian wolves are managed, regulated and, most importantly, valued.
This project touches on an array of issues including unlimited trapping quotas, trophy hunting with extended seasons (including during denning), trapping, wolf culls, and wolf poisoning. A major part of this project is providing educational programs that discuss the true nature of wolves, wolf ecology, coexistence strategies, and their important role in maintain a healthy and balanced ecosystem.
We look to help others understand the intrinsic and economic value of keeping wolves alive and a functioning apex predator in our ecosystems. In essence, this project focuses on education and science to advocate for immediate government action to devise better wolf management plans in Western Canada.
With large carnivores in decline across the globe, Canada provides one of the greatest opportunities worldwide to ensure that large carnivores continue to thrive as part of a functioning predator-prey ecosystem. The only places in Canada that our large carnivores are currently protected from hunting and trapping are in our national parks, yet studies repeatedly show that even the largest North American parks are inadequate in size to fully protect wolves and other wide-ranging carnivores.
The Buffer Zones Project is working toward a solution to that problem: establishing buffer zones around our Canadian Rocky Mountain national parks that large carnivores are fully protected in. These buffer zones would still allow hunting, recreational activities and approved industrial development, yet would eliminate all large carnivore hunting and trapping, enabling a fully functioning predator-prey ecosystem.
Despite the vital role wolves have in our ecosystem, 463 were killed in British Columbia during the winter of 2020 and 237 were killed in the winter of 2021 through lethal wolf culling programs. This is a part of a controversial wildlife management strategy that has recently been extended in British Columbia by its provincial government until 2026. The purpose of this strategy is to protect declining caribou populations in western Canada, specifically in British Columbia and Alberta, from the predation of wolves. This is accomplished by culling wolves which is a strategy that has been used in Alberta since 2005.
The Wolf-Caribou Project looks to correct the narrative of wolves being responsible for declining caribou populations and EXPOSE the true culprits: logging, oil and gas industries. This project will involve research, policy development, public outreach and educational programs as well as advocating for government to immediately enact caribou recovery plans in Alberta and British Columbia that address the root problems of declining caribou populations.
