Courtesy of The Register-Guard:
Alaska has long allowed authorities and hunters to kill bears and wolves on national wildlife refuges as part of what it called an “intensive predator management” program. Approved methods included shooting wolves and their pups in dens, using bait to hunt bears, killing mother bears with their cubs — and one made famous by former Alaska governor Sarah Palin: gunning down wildlife from helicopters.
That’s now about to change. In defiance of several Alaska officials, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service approved regulations that ban nearly all predator hunting on national wildlife refuges that is not approved by the federal government and “based on sound science and in response to a conservation concern.” The new regs specifically prohibit hunting bear cubs as well as bear hunting using traps, snares or helicopters, among other methods.
Alaska’s predator hunting has been a flash point in a growing battle between state and federal officials over who has authority over federal lands. Alaska officials, who criticized the ban as federal overreach, say their program increases moose and caribou populations that attract hunters and serve as a food source for rural Alaskans. But in a column for the Huffington Post on Wednesday, Fish and Wildlife Director Dan Ashe denounced it as unethical and based on flawed science about predator-prey relationships.
“Over the past several years, the Alaska Board of Game has unleashed a withering attack on bears and wolves that is wholly at odds with America’s long tradition of ethical, sportsmanlike, fair-chase hunting,” Ashe wrote. “We have a long history of cooperative management with the states, including Alaska, and we have deep respect and admiration for our state agency professional colleagues. But there comes a time when the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service must stand up for the authorities and principles that underpin our work and say ‘no.’”
You know we have been mismanaging our wildlife for a long time, and favoring trophy hunters over the welfare of our indigenous animals for far too long.
We have also received warning after warning from biologists and we have ignored them all.
So I certainly do not blame the feds for stepping in.
However ultimately it will only serve to create even more anger and hostility toward the federal government from some of our sovereign citizen types who unfortunately populate a whole lot of the voting precincts not contained within the Anchorage area.
In other words watch for more crazies to be sent to Juneau from places like Wasilla, Fairbanks, and Ketchikan.
