Wolf snares kill 15 cougars, eagle in central Alberta, spurring debate over hunting method

News that snares set for wolves killed15cougars and onegolden eagle incentral Alberta thiswinter is prompting a call to phase out a hunting method that some call "inhumane."

DwightRodtka, aretired Alberta Agriculture specialist inproblem wildlife,says he'snot surprised to hear that wolf snares aretaking down other animals.

"It's not really that abnormal,or abnormal at all," he said.

According to Alberta Fish and Wildlife, the creaturesperished in the Sundreareaafter being caught insnares set for wolves.

"They're not selective at all as to what they catch,"saidRodtka.

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There isno limit to the number of neck snares a trapper can set around a draw bait a heap of dead animals orroadkillset out to lure wolves in.

"When you get 200 snares set out in a quarter-mile radius around a draw bait it's just basically a solid wall. Any animal that goes through or attempts to go through there, is very likely to get caught."

He says moose, deer, elk, bears, birds and cougars have all died this way.

Phase out 'inhumane' snares

In 2015,Rodtka co-authoured a paper published theJournal of Canadian Wildlife Management and Biology that reveals Canadian snares are inefficient at quicklykilling wildlife.

"They're definitelyinhumane," he said."The design of the device itself is such that there doesn't appear any possible way that it can be made humane."

Rodtka says becausehunting is nolonger a source of livelihood for most Albertans and isnow"largely recreational," it makes sense for the province to startphasing out necksnares.

Snares 'critical management tool'

One of the most well-knownwolf trappers in Canada argues that snares are nothing but humane.

"Properly set [and]properlyused these things are absolutely deadly," saidGordyKlassen,a lifelong trapper innorthern Alberta.

He says necksnares are widely recognized as "killing devices"and municipalities and the agriculture industry would "take a tremendous hit" if trappers couldn't use them to managepredatorslike coyotes and wolves, that take down livestock.

"Snares are a critical management tool."

Bycatch higher than reported

"I'm positive that we are not even hearing the tip of the iceberg," said Rodtka about bycatch animalsaccidentally caught in traps intended for other wildlife.

He saysRalph Klein's famous 'shoot, shovel, and shutup' remark made during the 2003 mad cow crisis is "quite prevalent"among Alberta's hunting and trapping community.

"There's not even mandatory reporting of most animals. The only animals that you have to report are animals that are on a restrictive quota and also grizzly bears."

With files from the Calgary Eyeopener