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Suzuki Foundation wants protection for B.C. wildlife
Reptiles, turtles and freshwater fish most at risk, report says
Kent Spencer, The Province
Published: Friday, June 08, 2007

The David Suzuki Foundation is calling on B.C. to enact endangered-species legislation after a report that 1,300 species here are at risk.

Co-author Dr. Faisal Moola said yesterday only five per cent of B.C.'s wildlife and plants receive limited protection.

"The level of endangered species is surprisingly high," the Suzuki scientific director said after a year-long study of the government's own data.

"It makes me very sad. My family came here from South Africa because of the wilderness and wildlife.

"Around a riverbend, you might see a grizzly. We should protect that experience for our children," he said.

The Northern Spotted Owl is expected to be extinct in the future because only 14 birds are left.

Of the 3,000 species analyzed, reptiles, turtles and freshwater fish are most at risk of becoming "locally extinct," the report says.

Certain runs of salmon are endangered. There are also population declines up and down the coast.

"The fisheries on the Sunshine Coast are depressed today compared to the past," Moola said.

Reasons to protect nature include: it is a source of clean air, water and food; tourism dollars are generated; and birds and insects pollinate fruit.

Moola, 36, received his doctorate in biology from Dalhousie University in Halifax.

He called on B.C. to enact legislation similar to a dedicated, stand-alone law passed in Ontario last week. A total of $18 million has been set aside for landowners to help species on private property.

Premier Gordon Campbell "wants to be the greenest premier in Canada," said Moola. "I think B.C. will do the right thing."

B.C. Agriculture Minister Pat Bell said the report will be studied to see if stand-alone legislation really meets the needs of species.

Bell said the province has done a "tremendous amount of work with the mountain caribou and the spotted owl." B.C. has a species at risk office.

"We take species at risk very seriously," he said.