Wolf Control in Alaska

By Alan Sorum | Published: 1 June 2011

Even in this state were people generally support the hunting, gathering and trapping of animals, the issue of aerial control of wolf populations is divisive. Just a review of voter initiatives bears this out. Alaskan residents have voted to place limits on aerial wolf control three times to date, in 1996, 2000 and 2008. Likewise, the Alaska Legislature has regularly enacted legislation to overturn or modify the intent of approved voter initiatives. The recent dust up in the press between Actress Ashley Judd and Alaska Governor Sarah Palin over wolf control has done little to clarify the issue with the public. It is fair to say residents of Alaska remain divided over the practice supported by the State of Alaska. Wolf Control and the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) Alaskas Department of Fish and Game operates under the guidance of regulations promulgated by the Alaska Board of Game. The Department points out that wolves and bears are very efficient predators of moose and caribou, placing these predators in competition with people for the same sources of food. ADF&G states that predators account for 80 percent of the morality experienced by moose and caribou during the year, while people account for 10 percent of animals consumed each year. Predator control is seen by the Department as a necessary to boost the population of moose and caribou, when other management tools like hunting restrictions have failed to be effective. According to ADF&G, there are five wolf control programs currently in place that account for 9.4% of Alaskas landmass. Permits are issued by the Department to allow aerial hunting and hunting during the same day as flying to control wolves. The Departments website says, wolf numbers will be temporarily reduced, but wolves will not be permanently eliminated from any area. Successful programs allow humans to take more moose, and healthy populations of wolves to continue to thrive in Alaska. An Alternative View on Predator Control Published by Scientific American Recently the Ask the Experts Section of Scientific Americans online version of its magazine published an article titled Why does Sarah Palin support shooting wolves in Alaska? by Brendan Borrell. In the article Borrell interviews Shawn Haskell, a wildlife biologist that worked in Alaska and now manages deer populations for the State of Vermont. The article focuses on management of wildlife populations and the impact of wolves on moose numbers in Alaska. Management of predators is in part a reaction to their competition for the same prey species like moose and caribou. Haskell points out that wolves arent the predator control advocates should be worried about, bears are the predominate predator of moose calves.

In discussing caribou populations, Haskell does say that wolf control might make sense to boost caribou populations, Its actually possible that culling the wolf colony on the North Slope of Alaska created conditions that gave rise to the caribou now called the Central Arctic Herd. They didnt used to exist until wolves were moved from that area. So where do we go next? It is not likely that the nationally publicized debate with our Governor will solve the wolf control controversy in Alaska. The issue will just as likely as not trigger another voter initiative to again limit the practice. Until a honest broker can be put in place to address the science of prey population management and predator control, effective decision making will never take hold. That said, as much as we seek shelter in the scientific basis of wildlife management tools, wolves hold an emotional value to people that cannot be expressed effectively by facts or figures.

Alaska: Aerial Wolf Hunt Begins

By LESLIE KAUFMAN Published: March 16, 2010

State employees began an aerial wolf hunt on the Yukon border on Tuesday in what officials describe as an effort to preserve caribou for shooting by hunters. Officials at the adjacent Yukon-Charlie Rivers National Preserve argued against the hunt, saying that the wolves have had a particularly hard winter and need to recover. The state plans to kill as much as 80 percent of the local wolf population in the next week, or 185 wolves; there are an estimated 46,500 caribou. Since 2006 the state has regularly granted hunting licenses or assumed the task itself in planes or helicopters.