The dedicated people who have struggled to save one of the world's most endangered species are squirming at the thought that other creatures may have to die to keep the Vancouver Island marmot alive.

The news that the provincial government has killed six golden eagles to protect the 21 remaining wild marmots on the Island has left the Marmot Recovery Foundation in a very uncomfortable position. Rumours of the killings had been making the rounds, and the foundation -- which hadn't been informed by the government -- had denied the rumours to anyone who asked.

Then UVic biology instructor Neville Winchester stumbled onto the truth when he was looking for carcasses for a class and was directed to the six eagles in a government freezer.

Doug Janz, head of the Island's wildlife division and the chairman of the province's marmot recovery team, said the killing of the eagles was a tough decision, but the birds are not endangered and are the main predators threatening the marmots.

Janz said in retrospect the government probably should have told the public and the marmot foundation about the killings, but he said the plan was not secret. The difference between keeping it a secret and just not telling anyone is probably lost on the marmot foundation, as it would be on most people.

In previous years, Janz had encouraged hunters to kill cougars and wolves in the area where those predators were feasting on marmots.

While biologists like Chris Darimont of the Raincoast Conservation Society have criticized Janz for being too eager to pull out the guns when predators are around, Janz and the marmot team are trying to find ways to save the house-cat sized marmots from what seems like almost certain destruction. It cannot be easy for them to stand by and watch their work disappear down an eagle's gullet.

The marmots numbered about 300 in the mid-1980s, living in the alpine meadows of the Island. They did just fine until clearcut logging gave them the chance to wander. Wandering was their downfall.

The clearcuts were tempting because they offered new food sources and looked like easier places to live. But the marmots tended to bunch together in the clearcuts, exposing them to predators. They also did not survive hibernation as well in the clearcuts as they did in the meadows. Others, because of wandering, were not available to breed with those in the meadows. The result was a plummeting population.

In 1988, the Vancouver Island Marmot Recovery Team began working on ways to reverse the trend. Ten years later, the foundation was created to manage the team's efforts and raise funds from government, industry and the public. Its goal is 400 to 600 animals, which it believes is a natural level.

The job has been a frustrating one. The team moved marmots into captivity to protect them and try to breed them. Facilities like the Calgary Zoo, the Toronto Zoo and Mountain View Farm on the mainland began to see success in the breeding program.

Some of those marmots have been reintroduced to the wild. The trick now is to make sure they survive.

The foundation thinks a 10 per cent survival rate is needed to revive the population, but survival rates are disappointingly low.

While some pairs have bred in the wild, the numbers are dropping. In 2002, there were 36 or 37 marmots in the wild. Today, there are believed to be 21.

Faced with those numbers, it is not surprising that harsh measures are on the table. Last year, the ministry, which has legal responsibility for protecting the marmots, considered a plan to clear all wolves and cougars out of a 400-square-kilometre buffer zone around the marmot colonies.

To the layman, the idea of blasting away at every wolf, cougar and golden eagle in an area half the size of Greater Victoria conjures up visions of buffalo hunters potting their prey from trains. How many predators would have to be killed and for how many years to ensure the marmots survive?

Critics of the killings must present alternative solutions. The foundation, wincing at the killings, wants to consider other means of protection, including shepherds to watch over the critters and loud noises on the mountaintops to scare off the predators.

Certainly, if such measures can work, they are to be preferred.

If they don't work, we are left with a question that is not only scientific, but moral. What value do we put on the survival of a species? If the government is legally required to protect the marmots, is there no limit to the cost of that protection?

These are questions not only for government biologists, but for all of us.