State of Alaska darkened its reputation by allowing wolf hunts from aircraf
State of Alaska darkened its reputation by allowing wolf hunts from aircraft
AfSD™(ADVOCATE FOR SAVING DOGS™and all living creatures)
From:
IndianPaint
The state of Alaska has darkened its reputation by allowing wolf hunts from aircraft, but this latest proposal is beyond belief.
The Department of Fish and Game (ADFG) is pushing the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to allow aerial hunting of adult wolves – and gassing of pups in their dens – on Unimak Island, 98% of which is designated Wilderness. Unimak Island is part of the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge.
Unimak, part of the Aleutian Islands 700 miles southwest of Anchorage, is an island so wild that 98% of it is designated Wilderness. It’s marked by towering volcanoes, soaring bluffs with surf booming beneath, forest and tundra. Marine mammals inhabit its waters and coasts, migratory birds use its headlands and wetlands, and it is home to brown bear, wolves, wolverines, and caribou.
ADFG has asked the US Fish and Wildlife Service to allow the killing of wolves on Unimak Island because the number of caribou on the island is dropping. The state of Alaska would like to boost the caribou herd for various reasons, including for the benefit of big-game hunting.
But neither the US Fish and Wildlife Service or the Alaska Department of Fish and Game know the cause of the caribou herd’s decline.
More information is needed before the Fish and Wildlife Service makes its final decision. While wolf predation may be part of the reason the herd is faltering, other elements such as climate change, forage availability, habitat, and/or disease may be affecting the herd, and these issues have not been sufficiently analyzed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service should not rush to kill wolves when it has too little information to effectively address the problem. Moreover, allowing this type of hunt in designated Wilderness within a National Wildlife Refuge sets a dangerous precedent.
These wolves inhabit designated Wilderness lands owned by all Americans. Please take action now to ensure that any management efforts are based on sound, scientific rationale in this Wilderness. Once you’ve taken action, be sure to contact friends and spread the word.
Thanks for all you do!
Sincerely,
Kathy Kilmer
The Wilderness Society
The Wilderness Society
The Wilderness Society
The following statement is not to be understood as support for the killing of the wolves, but a simple observation that is my personal opinion. I love all animals, period. It would make sense to address the problem, if in fact it is a problem that effects the overall survival of all animals concerned,especially the wolves. Having said that, it needs to be based on facts that go beyond a simple theory, but on research that shows that what they say is true. Tampering with the balance of nature is dangerous, and it is certainly not an exact science. I will give an example that explains what easily could not have been anticipated. It is a bizarre example but it will make my point. This guy I knew many years ago had a huge fish tank in his house, and he had a bass in it that weighed about two pounds. Somehow, he came to be given a piranha (a fish feared even by humans), and he did not want to put it in the tank in fear that it would eat his bass. It reached the point that he had to put the piranha in the tank or it would not survive. The bass ate the piranha. My point is simple. Playing with the balance of nature is dangerous. You do not know the outcome…Great info…
I have a hard time hearing about ppl shooting wolves or even deer because they “were in their yard”
I say “wtf, we are in their yard” IMO, we tampered so much with the balance of nature to a point we’re the paresites.
Then I have to hear about ppl “not wanting to be bothered” with animals needing help”, or they tell me they don’t want to see or think about it…out of sight and mind does not make it go away, think about how selfish this sounds!
Vic, it’s great to see you here, my friend!
XXXOOO
Not being there, I am hard pressed to judge. If the state is trying to save the caribou for sport hunting, I have a problem with their reasoning. If, however, the predator, prey ratio is unbalanced for unnatural reasons, then culling the wolf packs is more sensible and humane that allowing it to run a more natural course. As someone who was born and raised on a hardscrabble farm, I have’nt the luxury of artificial morals that a city person has.
Wolves are endangered
Nature has a way of balancing things out with out us…
XXXOOO
Thank you so mush for your opinion on this!
Hugs