More input needed on Yukon wolf management plan

The Yukon Conservation Society wants the territorial government to extend the deadline for public input on its wolf management plan, saying the consultation period took place over the summer while many Yukoners were on vacation.

The Recommended Yukon Wolf Conservation and Management Plan was released on Aug. 2 and comments are due by the end of Wednesday but environmentalists say more time is needed.

Some of those recommendations include managing the wolf population to reduce predation rates among caribou and moose. The report also suggests eliminating aerial control operations.

Karen Baltgailis, executive director of the Yukon Conservation Society, said a new plan was needed but few were paying attention to the issue over the summer.

"How many people even are aware that this plan has come out?" she said.

Baltgailis said her organization is also concerned that the proposed recommendations allow officials to call for a wolf cull in cases of "emergency" without explaining what would constitute one.

According to the Yukon government there are around 4,500 wolves in the territory and around 215 are trapped or hunted each year.

The last wolf management plan was put in place in 1992.

In April, rural Yukon hunters called on the government toloosen harvesting regulationsto protect moose, caribou and sheep populations.