Miley Cyrus invited to B.C. to visit caribou herd threatened by wolves

A B.C. MLA is inviting Miley Cyrus back to the province to visit the region where the wolf cull takes place, so the American pop star can see first-hand how it's connected to B.C.'s effort to save endangered mountain caribou.

"I'm hoping to engage her on an issue she's passionate about so we can work together to find a response to save both the caribou and the wolves," said Nelson-Creston MLA MichelleMungall, who tweeted the invite to Cyruson Thursday.

Cyrus came toB.C. last monthto rail against the controversial wolf kill, only to land on the central coastthousands ofkilometresand several mountain ranges away from where wolves are being shot.

She thenshared her views on social media, asking her Instagram followers to sign a petition to stop the killings.

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Figures for 2015 released by the province indicate84 wolves were killedbetween Jan. 15 and April, thefirst yearof a five-year planto cull wolves, which were shot from helicopters.

The cull is part of B.C.'seffort to save endangered mountain caribou.

Complex problem, controversial cull

MungallsaidCyrusneeds to learn more aboutthe complexity of the problem.

"No one I represent wants to see a wolf cull and no one wants the mountain caribou to go extinct," she wrote Cyrus in a letter.

"Yet we find ourselves with these two species linked by nature but presently at odds because of human activity, leaving us with difficult choices."

Mungallsaidshe reluctantly supports the wolf cull, if only to help save thelast remaining mountain caribou that range into the continental U.S.

Four of seven mountain caribou herdsin the northern Rocky Mountainsare on the verge of elimination,with just 70 animals among them.

InMungall'sriding, there are fewer than 20 caribou in SouthSelkirk, andsomebiologists say wolves threaten to wipe them out altogether.

While habitat loss and human encroachment are the maincauses of the decline of the caribou, predation by wolves is hampering the endangered species' recovery, officials say.

Critics have vigorously condemned the wolf killings, saying the evidence suggests such culls are ineffective and cruel.

"It's a scientifically flawed policy,"Wildlife Defence Leaguespokesman Tommy Knowles told CBC News in February.

"Killing one species to save another flies in the face of conservation and fails to acknowledge the true reason behind the declining caribou."