Killing wild animals we encounter a band-aid solution: SPCA
Posted September 14, 2011 7:49 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – Bringing out the shotgun every time we encounter cougars and bears is not the way we ought to co-exist, at least according to one local expert.
Days after three cougars were killed in Squamish out of concern someone might be attacked, there are serious concerns over how we deal with our fears.
Sarah Dubois is the SPCA‘s manager of wildlife services. She calls this an especially bad year for encounters and says we have to acknowledge our role; these animals are coming into areas we’ve developed and our actions are leading to the need to cull.
“It’s a band-aid solution,” she explains. “It’s not going to prevent it from happening again in the future. We need to address this as a long-term approach.”
“I think education is one part of it,” she explains. “But I think we need to look at the planning of where we put our parks. Maybe there are seasonal issues that we have to address… garbage issues.”
Dubois says we have to manage ourselves better so wildlife can live in the wild.
