4 - Friday, November 6, 1987 - North Shore News Bob Hunter ® strictly personal ® IN MY previous column, | enjoyed a chance to brag about having got something right, namely having been confident that Pat Carney would pull off a free trade deal. Today, I have to admit to hav- ing got something wrong. Last February, I wrote a piece about then-environment minister Stephen Rogers having started attacking wolves from the air again, bad guy that he was. There is a sharp debate be- tween biologists about the effects of the government’s attempts to wipe out the wolves. I have found, in discussions with hunt- ers, that they admit there is little basis for expecting much “science’’ to guide government hunting policies, since there is political interference from lob- byists representing different in- terests every time. In my column, however, I made two statements, one of which turns out to have been ap- parently off the mark, and the other of which turns out to be just plain flatly and _ utterly wrong. My information has been challenged by Rick Lowe, a North Vancouver man.’ who - — : ELEGANT » SATURDAY | NOVEMBER 7/87 9:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. WEST VANCOUVER UNITED CHURCH 21st & Esquimalt PPV ay | describes himself as having been a hunter for 25 years and who has ‘‘a deep love and concern for all wildlife as well as their en- vironment.’’ Okay. If you say so. ting, drug treatments and bag limits.”’ I cited this as an example of die-offs caused by weakening of the gene pool because hunters were taking the healthiest, biggest bulls. Mr. Lowe says he was there when those die-offs happened. They were due, he insists, to ‘‘a PSEA EA CN EN SE NTIS “The government is no help at all, since the wolf kill is conducted under conditions of secrecy worthy of the War Measures Act.”’ EY TA OTT CUNT EE y loss of winter habitat to domestic Born and raised in the East Kootenays, Mr. Lowe says his love of the outdoors was handed down to him from his father and grandfather as they went hunting together. Why they didn’t just go camping, he doesn’t say. Mr. Lowe makes a specific ob- jection to my statement that ‘‘the Big Florn sheep i: the Kootenays . are in danger of extinction despite elaborate efforts to save them, including the burning of winter range to encourage foliage growth, seeding, herd transplan- NORBURN LIGHTING, 7 4600 East Hastings, Burnaby Tel. 299-0666 “aces ee (WHOLESALE & RETAIL—FREE CATALOGUES AVAILABLEJ Menthe te SIF animals resulting in hunger- weakened sheep dying from a lungworm parasite picked up from domestic animals. “Your culprits are indiscrimi- nate Jeasing of critical winter range to ranching interests and allowing domestic animals to range where the sheep can pick up these parasites. Hunting had nothing to do with it,”’ he writes. Going through my _ research material to check out what he was saying, I realized I had paraphrased poorly, made an y~ COLOUR TV. VCR ~ MICROWAVE ~ CD PLAYER assumption, and overstated the case. The Big Horn sheep are in danger, all right, but the fault may well lie, since I can’t show otherwise, with the ranchers rather than the hunters. I'll give the gentleman the benefit of the doubt. The other statement which Mr. Lowe set his sights on was my claim that in the Kechika and Muskwa areas, where the wolf kill was being carried out, there were no bag limits on moose. This nugget of information had been passed on to me by Greg Mcintyre, an activist with the loose coalition of wildlife groups opposing the wolf kill. In the past, McIntyre had provided me with accurate information contradicting government state- ments. He had obtained this par- ticular bit of information from an individual who was then working for the provincial en- vironment department, he said, and couldn't be quoted directly. This sort of thing hapoens in the news biz from time to tire. The only way you have of know ing whether your source is dependable or not in the long run is to test him by running the suff, The government is no help at all, since the wolf kill is con- ducted under conditions of secrecy worthy of the War Measures Act. In this case, when | checked back to make sure | had it right, McIntyre couldn’t quite remember, but he was able to put me in touch, belatedly, with the guy he got it from, who was no longer working for the gov- ernment and could presumably talk to me now. I called him. I still won't use his name because he might want to work for the department again. To my dismay, he was at a loss to explain what MclIntyre had been blabbering about. The only possible explanation was that he had added up the figures in the regulations in the wrong row, which is no excuse at all. So. Sorry, Mr. Lowe. You got me. Good shot. | still think you should take up camping. An Exotic Safari into the heart of Fine East African Indian Cuisine TASTE THE DIFFERENCE! Savour a variety of exotic dishes: Lunch Buffet - Monday to Friday. Dinner Buffet - Sunday to Thursday ¢ BOOK NOW FOR YOUR CHRISTMAS PARTY « TOSHIBA 14” MONITOR WITH REMOTE CONTROL TOSHIBA VHS RECORDER WITH REMOTE CONTROL TOSHIBA DELUXE OVEN WITH 9 POWER LEVELS TECHNICS COMFACT DISC PLAYER WITH REMOTE CONTROL WITH THE PURCHASE OF ANY NEW STELLAR IN OUR STOCK CLEAR OUT SALE *10,995 Plus freight, prep & options 1987 STELLAR CL That’s right... Buy a brand new Stellar at a Tatlow price... Plus get a TV., VCR, Microwave or C.D. Player at no charge! 1695 Marine Dr. North Vancouver 986-4291 “WE SELL CARS THAT MAKE SENSE”