The Alaska Department of Fish and Game stopped shooting wolves from a helicopter in the eastern Interior on Thursday after killing 84 wolves in five days as part of an intensified and controversial predator control program to increase caribou and moose numbers in an area east of Tok.
State officials were hoping to kill as many as 150 wolves by tracking them via airplane and shooting them from a helicopter, but a lack of both fresh snow and money prompted the department to temporarily halt the program.
Asked what it would take to get department sharpshooters back in the air, Fairbanks regional supervisor David James replied, “More money and more snow.”
The department had $100,000 set aside for the helicopter shootings, and James said the agency had used “probably 80 percent” of that as of Wednesday.
In the mean time, James said the department will analyze the results of action taken so far and decide what areas to target next, if any.
Of course we only have their word that this is the REAL reason the hunt was called off. It does seem odd for a government program to stop while there is still money to spend.
Or perhaps this could be the true reason.
The fact the department killed only about half the number of wolves that it was hoping to is proof there aren’t as many wolves in the area as biologists estimate, said Wade Willis, the Alaska representative for Defenders of Wildlife.
“They couldn’t find any more wolves to kill,” Willis said. “They ran out of wolves; it’s plain and simple.”
Well if it is the second reason that is truly sad. And it also supports our contention that they have no real idea just how many wolves are even in the area. They just pulled a number out of their ass and decided to start killing.
Personally I would like to think, and I have no information to support this, that this website and many others may have increased the scrutiny to such a level that these people can no longer conduct these murderous airborne assaults without receiving tons of negative attention.
Of course this could also be yet another example of Sarah Palin reacting to negative press much too late to really save face.
I would take this as our political victory over that bitch until somebody can prove otherwise. She may like to slaughter innocent animals from a helicopter for sport but not enough to cause her to lose a few votes from decent people.
ReplyDeleteWonder what would happen if someone with an air-to-surface missile launcher would defend the wolves.
ReplyDeleteOops, you mean surface-to-air missile or SAM. But we get your point.
ReplyDeleteThe fair thing would be to get the aerial wolf-killers on the ground with the wolves they want to kill. Hand-to-paw - no weapons allowed.
These wolves arent hunted for sport. They are hunted by pilots with permits issued from the state to regulate specific areas in which the wolf population has grown over that which is healthy for the local ecosystem.
ReplyDelete