March 19, 2010
Alaska won’t stop killing wolves.
Alaska Fish and Game wiped out all four members of the collared Webber Creek wolf pack that ranged in Alaska’s Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve. They were part of a sixteen year ongoing research project by the National Park Service.
Alaska is killing wolves to boost numbers of moose and Fortymile caribou. This is a waste of wolves’ lives and outdated wildlife management. Are they living in the 1950’s up there?
The Alaska Fish and Game wolf executioners agreed they wouldn’t kill wolves collared by the National Park Service biologists. So much for giving their word.
Wolves that use the preserve are dropping like flies. The autumn 2009 count was 42 wolves, by February that number had dropped to 26, the largest single decline in 17 years. There should be an immediate halt to the wolf killing anywhere near the preserve.
From the News Tribune:
“Fish and Game makes no apologies for killing uncollared wolves in the predator control program and said it killed the wolves wearing park service radio collars by mistake.
“A possible collar malfunction or other problems prevented staff from identifying the collared wolves,” the department said in a statement Thursday.
Collar malfunction? I was born in the dark but it wasn’t last night.
The Webber Creek mother and father were recently collared. Apparently the shooter did see the collars but shot anyway, according to reports.
“Causes of the tracking problem are being investigated, according to the statement.
Fish and Game referred all questions to David James, regional supervisor for the Interior. James did not return repeated messages Thursday afternoon and evening with questions about what happened and the department’s statement, which appears to conflict with what he had reportedly told the Park Service.
Dudgeon said he’d spoken to James on Wednesday night.
“My understanding from the phone call last night was that the shooter, whoever that person was, did see the collars,” Dudgeon said. “They were aware of the collars.”
The Fish and Game statement began by saying the department was “concluding a successful three-day field operation in the ongoing Upper Yukon Tanana wolf control program.” The operation began Tuesday and the statement said that nine wolves were killed during the first two days.
The program will resume with the next adequate snowfall in the area, according to the statement. The wolves are tracked in the snow using fixed-wing aircraft, and Fish and Game employees then come in and shoot the wolves from helicopters.
There are five areas of Alaska where the state has authorized predator control from the air by private pilots and gunners in order to boost key populations of game. The Fortymile area is the only of the five where Fish and Game also uses helicopters with its own employees to fly in and shoot the wolves.
Fish and Game said it “continues to coordinate” with National Park Service staff to minimize the impact of the effort on the wolf study in the Yukon Charley preserve. The study has been ongoing for 16 years, and the “alpha male and female” killed had been recently fitted with collars.
Dudgeon said he would be asking the department exactly where the wolves were killed and why. He said he’d asked Fish and Game not to kill any collared wolves, as well as any other wolves in the same packs.
Dudgeon said he made the request because of population numbers for wolves using the preserve. He said 42 wolves were counted in the fall and 26 in February. Wolves always die over the winter, but it was the biggest drop since the preserve started monitoring in 1993, he said.
He said Fish and Game agreed not to kill collared wolves and take no more than seven from the biggest packs that move in and out of the Yukon Charley preserve.
The National Parks Conservation Association, an advocacy group, called Thursday for an immediate suspension of the wolf killing around the Yukon Charley preserve. The group said it shouldn’t resume until the Park Service is satisfied a healthy wolf population is assured.
Wolf advocate Rick Steiner called the killing of collared wolves “disgusting and shameful” and said the program should be halted. The Board of Game authorized predator control after hearing from local residents and hunting advocates.
This is the second year in a row the department has used helicopters to kill wolves in the area of the Fortymile caribou herd. Fish and Game reported killing 84 wolves in the aerial program last year.”
Alaska has a reputation for treating it’s predators like vermin. It’s clear when it comes to predators, Alaska caters to hunters and trappers, the rest of the wildlife viewing public be damned.
The Webber Creek wolves resided in the Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve. Alaska Fish and Game agreed they would leave the collared wolves alone, yet the wolves are dead.
Please contact Governor Parnell to express your outrage.
“Friends of Animals“ has called for a boycott of Alaska due to the terrible decision by Alaska’s Board of Game to extend trapping into buffer zones around Denali National Park.
This is just another reason to avoid Alaska. Is there no end to their sanctioned wolf slaughter?
Contact Governor Parnell…..CLICK HERE
Alaska Governor Sean Parnell
State Capitol
P.O. Box 110001
Juneau, AK 99811
Fax:(907)465-3532
Tel:(907)465-3500
email: governor@gov.state.ak.us
web: http://www.gov.state.ak.us
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ALASKA DEPARTMENT OF FISH AND GAME
Boards Support Section
P.O. Box 115526
Juneau, AK 99811-5526
(907) 465-4110
(907) 465-6094 FAX
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Collared wolves killed during predator control
By SEAN COCKERHAMPublished: 03/19/1012:38 am | Updated: 03/19/1012:38 am
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Wolves with radio collars for research killed during Alaska predator control culling
The Anchorage Daily News
By Sean Cockerham |
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Posted in: Alaska’s wolves, aerial gunning of wolves, gray wolf/canis lupus
Tags: collared wolves, aerial gunning of wolves, Yukon-Charley National Preserve, wolves in the crossfire, Alaska Department of Fish and Game
Boulder White Clouds Council
Exposing The Big Game
Footloose Montana
Friends of the Clearwater
Lockwood Animal Rescue Center
Louise du Toit
LUPUSLAETUS
Mercy For Animals
Northern Idaho Wolf Alliance (NIWA)
Predator Friendly®- Because Wildlife Matters
Project Coyote
Project: Wolf
The Nature Conservancy
The Ravensong Group
WildEarth Guardians
Wisconsin Wildlife Ethic-Vote Our Wildlife
Wolf And Wildlife Studies: Jay Mallonee (Independent Wolf Biologist)
Wolf Song of Alaska
Wolves in english ! Les loups en anglais !
WWP's Gray Wolf Page
Yellowstone To Yukon Conservation Initiative
Howling For Justice 
NO AND NO!!! STOP TO KILL THE WOLVES!!! STOP THE KILL THESE SO BEAUTIFUL ANIMALS!!! MY GOD,STOP!!!WHY ALASKA DON’T WANT TO PROTEGE??? WHY??? THE LAST GUVERNOR,SHE WAS SO STUPIDE,CRUEL!!! STOPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP!!!!
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I’M DAMNINIG THIS GOVERNOR…THE LAST ONE SHE WAS SOOO CRUEL…ONCE MORE AGAIN??? PLEASE;PEOPLES OF ALASKA… DO YOU REALLY WANT TO KILL ALL WOLVES???? I CAN’T BELIEVE THAT…I CAN’T!!!
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Social comments and analytics for this post…
This post was mentioned on Twitter by Howling4Justice: Alaska Fish and Game Wipes Out Collared Wolf Pack From National Preserve : http://wp.me/pDTDG-1jk…
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Thank you Nabeki for always posting the contact info and providing the link. I just sent my letter off to the governor.
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Your welcome Lyndell,
I think the letters, calls and emails will help. The Park Service is livid over this. Unfortunately the wolves cannot be brought back. But it’s not just the collared wolves that are important. I grieve for all the wolves they are targeting. I wouldn’t put it past them if the killers didn’t chase the wolves out of the preserve and then shot them. I wouldn’t put anything past them. God bless Alaska’s wolves and all wolves that are enduring this persecution.
Thanks for caring and writing!!
For the wolves, For the wild ones,
Nabek
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THIS NEWS IS TRAGIC!!!I HOPED THAT,AFTER SARAH PALIN,WITH THE NEXT GOVERNOR, LIFES OF ALASKA WOLVES WILL BE BETTER….. I SILL HOPE WITH ALL MY HEART… I CONTACTED LOT OF FRENCH FRIENDS OF ME FOR TO WRITE TO GOVERNOR PARNELL. “WOLVES BORN PREDATORS LIKE HUMAN…WOLVES STILL PREDATORS…BUT HUMAN BEGAN DESTRUCTIVE…”! WE MUST TO TRY SAVE ALASKA’S WOLVES… AND ALL WOLVES ON THIS WORLD!
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Hi Agnes,
Not a lot has changed in Alaska for wolves. Sarah Palin’s legacy of anti wolf policies are alive and well in Alaska. The idea that Alaska Fish and Game would start shooting wolves around a nature preserve, wolves who were minding their own business, doing no harm to anyone, yet shot and killed for greed. Hunters and trapppers rule in Alaska. It’s sickening. The only thing we can do is protest their policies and not spend any tourist dollars in that state.
N.
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Nabeki,
got a link you may be interested in
http://www.wolfsongalaska.org/wolves_human_apathy.htm
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Thanks so much John. it looks like a great site with lots of information. Also they’ve been around a long time. I’ll add them to my blog roll.
N.
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Game with wolf is very dangerous but nice pic them I like it
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“wolf management” is the fancy word for “wolf hunting” which is the fancy word for “wolf slaughter” which is the not-so-fancy word for “killing wolves for hunters”
Some people are STUPID ya know…
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I hate the term “wolf management”. I need to make a bumper sticker that says….State Game Agencies Are “Managing” Wolves To Death
N.
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Yep, that would be a nice bumper sticker, I am just sick of hearing the word “wolf management” again and again and again…
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nabeki- I just heard that Al Barette was rejected for the Alaskan Board of game by the Alaskan legislature! Why am I skeptical that the next appointee will be just as bad if not worse for alaskan wildlife
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William arre there any reasonable people on BOG? I mean they were shooting wolves outside a game preserve? I think you’re right though, they’ll probably follow up with someone just as bad, although they had to feel the heat concerning that disgusting wolf skinning video. It’s such a shame wolves are controlled by those people.
N.
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Alaska will cave under all this scrutiny, because tourism will suffer if they don’t change direction away from the anti predator abundance based mgmt approach. people are seeing that these extremist groups like sportsmen as it’s been quoted “prefer animals dead rather than alive”. this approach is not sustainable and is not without consequences to the ecosystem. these people should be called sportsmen for sportsmen because it’s all about them. the interesting point about denali is that it turned out to be an alaska-fed control issue rather than sound science mgmt about wolves. you and i know who will suffer though. people need to email parnell, the tourism bureau etc
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Hi William
Not so sure they will cave because they have been doing this a long time. There were other Governors that approved this policy. Hopefully things are different now, there is much more information out there but Alaska is so vast and they are flying around in remote areas doing whatever they feel like doing. Who is out there to supervise their actions. That’s the scary part.
N.
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Look at what I found bout what is going on in Alaska:
http://www.defenders.org/newsroom/defenders_magazine/winter_2010/the_lost_frontier.php
These is this is the stupidest things I’ve ever heard, just after hearing my brother say “Let’s flood the Pacific Ocean!”
“It’s all about producing more,” says Doug Larsen, ADFG’s director of wildlife conservation. “If habitat can support more caribou and moose, which translates into more individuals filling their freezers, shouldn’t we try to do that?”
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Loua, This is Sarah Palin’s influence in Alaska. She left a terrible legacy of predator killing. Wolves are still suffering under it. She was a disaster for Alaska’s predators. Did you read this:
Alaska Fish and Game Wipes Out Collared Wolf Pack From National Preserve
For the wolves, For the wild ones,
Nabeki
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[…] Apparently the apache was attempt to see the collar but still according to the report. * Related Post var addthis_language = 'en'; General alaska, alaska fish and game, wolf […]
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[…] Excerpt from: Alaska Fish and Game Wipes Out Collared Wolf Pack From National … […]
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Remember that sunlight is the best disinfectant. A few years ago aerial hunting of wolves was something no one heard of. There is a national consciousness about wolves and a desire to protect them now- you can see that can’t you? These extreme policies will change- just not as fast as we might want them to.
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Keep doing what you are doing- it is working!
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Thanks William. I try to get the word out there!
N.
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[…] Alaska Fish and Game wiped out all four members of the collared Webber Creek wolf pack that ranged in Alaska’s Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve. They were part a sixteen year ongoing research project by the National Park Service. …Read more […]
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Wow, this is sad. I really hope they will stop this. Also, I posted the photo of the collared wolves at the top on Facebook, and I just wanted to make sure that I am allowed to do this.
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I just wrote the governor !
And tourist and fish and game depts
This is so sad and utterly insane
What happened to SCIENCE and the pursuit of knowledge ? Did it got lost on pursuit of the biggest moose or caribou?
We need non consumptive user fees, so we can get as demanding as the hunters.. They rule the law of the day !
They have the money and clout
We must be put on we equal footing so we can speak out and be heard…
Ask for Non consumptive user fees now!
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This slaughter is what Game & Fish Departments everywhere do. They are intrinsically rotten to the core. I know that there are some who still believe that “there are some good people in these depts.” Yes, I have met one or two here or there, but they usually do not last. Unless we feverishly work to Abolish these terrible pro hunting/trapping/ranching agencies, the killing will continue, under the antiquated “North American Model of Wild Life Conservation,” which is really “game management.”
We should Stop Compromising, stop “working with” these agencies.
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