The Ontario government aims to loosen wolf and coyote hunting regulations in Northern Ontario.

The proposed change allows unlimited killing of coyotes, including pups all year-round. It also eliminates all tag and reporting requirements. This will make it impossible to enforce kill limits or collect important data to assess the impacts on wildlife. This will result in a devastating loss of predator species and major ecosystem-wide damage.

While the government claims the changes will help moose, there’s no scientific evidence to support this. Eastern coyotes are not major predators of moose. Increased wolf hunting results in fragmented wolf packs, compensatory reproduction, prey switching to threatened species and increased predation. Increased wolf and coyote killing is also unethical.

Instead, we need an evidence-based wildlife management strategy that deals with all the factors affecting moose decline. This includes climate change, habitat loss, diseases, and calf hunting.

Actions You Can Take

• Submit a comment to the Environmental Registry Of Ontario to stop the slaughter of Canadian wolves and to instead support science-based protections for moose and responsible management of wildlife activities. Public consultation ends September 26th.
• Use IFAW’s sample letter to contact the Environmental Registry of Ontario.
• Use the Green Party’s sample letter to contact Min. Yakabuski of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario.