Two conservation groups have asked the State Superior Court to halt Alaska's aerial wolf killing and bear killing plans, saying they are based on faulty science and violate state law.
Defenders of Wildlife and the Alaska Wildlife Alliance asked the court to block the programs, which cover more than 40 million acres of Alaska's interior and which could result in the killing of more than 75 percent of the wolves in several areas.
"The Board of Game ignored well-established, solid science when they set up the aerial wolf killing and bear killing plans. The Board essentially went into this blindly, lacking accurate and up-to-date information on caribou and moose populations that would allow them to craft sustainable, science-based programs for management of all Alaska's game. The plan also flies in the face of basic fair chase hunting traditions," said Rodger Schlickeisen, president, Defenders of Wildlife.
The suit alleges that the Board of Game adopted regulations that are inconsistent with Alaska statutes governing game management. It says that the Board of Game failed to obtain accurate population estimates for caribou and moose so they could determine how many animals were available for hunting or "humane harvest" as it is referred to in state law.
State law requires the Board of Game to consider this information before setting new population and harvest objectives and embarking upon any predator control program. The law also requires that any predator control program be part of a comprehensive game management plan which the Board of Game has failed to adopt.
"Alaska's aerial killing programs represent the worst in wildlife control practices. They rely on decisions made by individuals who have no regard for sound science and the will of the public and who have no long-term vision for the management of Alaska's natural heritage," said John Toppenberg, Director of the Alaska Wildlife Alliance.
"For years, we've encouraged the Board of Game to take a sensible, scientific approach to managing the state's wildlife, but they've ignored all attempts at an ecosystem approach to wildlife management forcing us to look to the courts to avoid further abuses of their authority," he said.
Under the predator control implementation plans the Board has adopted, private individuals may obtain permits to hunt wolves using aircraft. Permittees may chase wolves to exhaustion using airplanes and then land and shoot them, or shoot them from the air.
The use of aircraft to kill wolves was banned by Alaskans in statewide ballot measures in 1996 and 2000, but the Alaska Legislature overturned those bans. In the three years since Alaska has begun issuing permits to pilots and gunners to conduct aerial-based wolf killing more than 550 wolves have been killed. In 2006 alone, more than 150 wolves were killed.
The Board recently expanded its predator control implementation plans to include the reduction of bears in some game management units (GMUs). And many of the GMUs where the aerial gunning programs have been authorized are adjacent to federal lands such as the Denali Park and Preserve, meaning the killing programs could affect predator populations living on a national park or wildlife refuge.
Defenders of Wildlife is a national conservation organization with more than 500,000 members and supporters nationwide, and more than 2000 in Alaska.
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Alaska Wildlife Alliance is a nonprofit organization dedicated to science based conservation of Alaska's wildlife for the benefit of present and future generations.
They are represented by Trustees for Alaska, a non-profit, public interest environmental law firm in Anchorage, and Anchorage attorney Valerie Brown. Trustees was founded in 1975.