Critics call out Alberta's 'cruel' wolf cull program

Scientists raising questions about the ethics ofAlberta's wolf cull are calling it cruel and unnecessary.

Conservation biologists have published a letter in a scientificjournalabout the program, which has killed hundreds of wolves inan attempt to help caribou numbers in west-central Alberta.

The letter says university and government scientists who used thecull to gather data on its results violated professional ethics.

But a government biologist says there's no other way to keep wolfnumbers low enough to help caribou other than by shooting thepredators from helicopters or poisoning them.

Dave Hervieuxsays stopping the cull would doom theherds and he makes no apology for using the information it generatedto gauge how successful it has been.

That research showed that killing wolves has stabilized caribou numbers, but barely.