Canada Cuts Spending on Wildlife

Greater Snow Geese rest in the Cap Tourmente National Wildlife Area near Quebec city October 13, 2006, after stopping to feed on American bulrush rhizomes. REUTERS/Mathieu Belanger

Watching for changes in wildlife habitat, doing environmental monitoring, would seem to be a good thing if you were interested in understanding the effects of global warming; they are the canaries in the coal mine. So, of course the Canadian Government is killing the canaries, or at least the people who watch them; according to the CBC, the Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Network, which observes changes in ecosystems, has lost 80 per cent of its budget. The Migratory Bird Program, which monitors the health of bird populations, has seen its budget cut by 50 per cent. The budget for the National Wildlife Areas, a program that protects habitats for wildlife and birds, has been slashed from $1.9 million to zero.

Reuters talked to Sandy Baumgartner of the Canadian Wildlife Federation, who noted "A lot of it (the cuts) is actually research-based, which is alarming because if nobody is out there studying the health of the environment, how do we know where there are problems?" ::Reuters

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