Gray wolf in Denali National Park and Preserve / NPS
The Alaska Department of Fish and Game is again planning to shoot hundreds of bears and wolves, according to a release from Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility. Part of the plan would involve stationing shooters in helicopters to fire on the animals from the air. Other gunners would operate from snowmobiles.
The plan is open for public comments until December 27.
The goal is to thin the population of bears and wolves by as much as 80% within a 20,000-acre area bordering Denali and Lake Clark national parks and preserves. The state would like to see populations of those animals in the area reduced to 35 wolves, 700 black bears, and 375 brown bears.
The proposal put forward by Alaska DFG suggests the state may need to shoot 100 wolves per year to maintain the population goal of 35 animals in the 20,000-acre area under consideration.
According to the release from PEER, the efforts to reduce the population of these predator animals is intended to increase the amount of moose and caribou near Denali and Lake Clark.
Reducing the amount of wolves and bears around the national parks, of course, means fewer of those animals enter the park, and fewer opportunities for visitors to these Alaskan national parks to see those animals. Potentially, that's a huge loss in tourism revenue for the state as wolf viewing is a big draw. According to a statement from PEER in 2019, when the Alaska Department of Fish and Game elected to open wolf hunting in areas bordering Denali in 2010, the success rate of viewing wolves in the national park was 45%. By 2019, the success rate had plummeted to 1%.
“Alaska’s predator control policies are cruel and the epitome of penny wise and pound foolish," said PEER Executive Director Tim Whitehouse in the release. "The amount of tourist dollars from people seeking to view these predators in the wild dwarfs any incremental increase in hunting fee revenue the state hopes to realize.”
You can read the proposals here. And, if you'd like to submit a public comment, follow this link.
Comments
Yeah... this is barbaric and foolish. Increase legal hunting permits if there is an overpopulation. And by legal- I mean on the ground hunting in a traditional manner. No heli or snowmobile shooting
Makes me sick to my stomach. People are incredibly cruel to think this is a good idea. I go to Alaska every summer and spend a lot of money frequenting areas in the hopes of seeing wildlife, bears and wolves top the list. I would hate to have to vacation somewhere else where all wildlife lives matter.
I would defer to the trained experts in AK who are on the ground and are fully aware of the ncecessity of this predator control.
PEER has no professional basis for questioning this proposal. As noted in the proposal, enlisting hunters using "traditional" hunting practices has been ineffective.
Why must humans always think we know best? Honestly, havent we learned by now that mother nature was put together perfectly from the beginning. All things working together perfectly. Remember when the US government eradicated wolves from Yellowstone in the 1920's? For the exact same reason? The adverse effects were profound and devastating! It took years to understand the impact not only wildlife but the entire eco system. Shooting them from the air? Really? Nature has survived millions of years and always maintained balance, Obviously, mother nature knew how to maintain the balance well enough all these years ! I agree, if human interference is absolutely inevitable, a traditional ground hunting in which the animal can then used for food, clothing etc., and benefits the local peoples. This is the better, sensible option. Native Americans could educate you, they understand Nature best, and the circle of life, how it is meant to be. A flyover brutal kill is "easy" however it is unnecessary. There are other options as noted that will also be beneficial to the Native communities in the area.
This is barbaric and should not be an option
I think those who are most in favor are those that find pleasure in killing these beautiful animals just for the thrill of killing them. Pathologic. Animals taken for food or clothing is an act where we give thanks yo our Creator for these provisions. Sure, if there is a rogue predator seeking out humans to attack/ kill them, then its it is necessary to hunt and kill it. It is barbaric, shameful, and cowardly, and lazy to use helicopter and snow mobiles to kill just for sport.
Apart from animal welfare concerns, there is ample evidence, including studies published by former ADFG biologists, that the State's aerial shooting of bears and wolves is generally NOT effective at increasing the numbers of caribou and moose for harvest. It is noteworthy that the Board of Game does not include any scientists among its board members. It is well documented that the AK predator control program does not follow National Research Council recommendations for monitoring and evaluating the effects and effectiveness of the State's predator control program.
Here are a variety of information sources supporting the above. Too much information, I know! Just saying there is considerable scientific evidence suggesting legitimate concerns that the program does not accomplish what ADFG says it will.
https://alcesjournal.org/index.php/alces/article/view/371/455#:~:text=In...)%20and%20addressed%20biological%20and%20socioeconomic%20issues.
https://www.mdpi.com/1424-2818/14/11/939
https://alaskapublic.org/2023/07/20/alaska-predator-control-doesnt-resul...
https://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.30...
https://www.investigatewest.org/news/in-an-era-of-climate-change-alaskas...
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1UcUSRqyMkYJKyA50iMz2ymyHoTNPW3C-/view?u...
Mike Murray
Wow your going to allow people to kill animals in the name of the all mighty dollar. Alaska you truly amaze me . These bears and wolves have more of a right to be here then so called humans ,if it was for food it might be different but certainly not to kill from helicopters or snow machines . BTW Who is actually the human in this case