Posted by Muir on
October 15, 2009
The authorized wolf hunt in Montana was a bit too effective this year. Hunters killed nine wolves in the state wilderness area along the northern border of Yellowstone National Park. Four of the wolves killed were from the park’s Cottonwood Pack, including the pack’s breeding female and the state’s celebrity wolves. The dead even included radio-collared wolves that were part of Yellowstone’s wolf studies and were featured on PBS and Discovery Channel programs.
Wildlife commissioners suspended the wolf hunt last week after state officials became concerned about the heavy killing in the area. Critics point out there is no livestock in the wilderness area, meaning the wolves are being slaughtered for no good reason.
“We’ve missed the mark a little this first year,” said Carolyn Sime, lead wolf biologist for Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks. Turns out that killing wolves was easier than expected.
Story at Investigate West
Posted by Muir on
March 18, 2009
The National Park Service (NPS) is concerned about Alaska’s new predator control effort of shooting wolves from helicopters. The Alaskan Department of Fish and Game began killing wolves Saturday to boosting caribou numbers in the state. The goal is to shoot as many as 150 wolves before they eat too many caribou calves and before the snow and wolf tracks disappear. The state has killed at least 30 wolves so far.
But NPS officials questioned what the shooting will mean for wolves who travel between state land and a neighboring 2.5-million-acre national preserve. They also worry that the state overestimated how many wolves live in the area and will kill too many.
“We don’t want to see the wolf population, or those packs that frequent the Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve, be eliminated or reduced significantly,” said Debora Cooper, NPS associate regional director for natural resources.
After meeting with the head of the national preserve last week, the state agreed not to shoot wolves wearing NPS research radio collars, and to limit shooting wolf packs that are known to move in and out of the preserve, said regional Fish and Game supervisor David James. “We’re not trying to eradicate the wolf population,” he said.
Defenders of Wildlife, a national environmental group that targeted Governor Sarah Palin’s support of aerial hunting, criticized the new helicopter kill. “This is an extreme response to what has never been more than an arbitrary target with no scientific backing. There is no biological emergency to justify this kind of action.”
Story at Anchorage Daily News
