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Defenders News Briefs Spring 2005
Scientists Oppose Aerial Wolf Hunting
Alaska’s program of killing wolves from aircraft is scientifically flawed, according to a recent report endorsed by more than 100 wildlife experts nationwide. Alaskan biologist Victor Van Ballenberghe drafted the study, which was commissioned by Defenders and supported by 123 scientists and academic wildlife professionals. The scientists sent a copy of the report along with a letter opposing the wolf hunt to Alaska Gov. Frank Murkowski and the Alaska Board of Game in January. At press time, more than 200 Alaska wolves had been killed this season under the state-sponsored program, and hundreds more are slated to die.
Visit www.savealaskawolves.org to learn more.
Earth Friends on the Move
Help is on the way for bobcats in New Jersey and for other species because of a grant from the Earth Friends Wildlife Foundation. With financial assistance from the foundation, Defenders has created the Earth Friends Wild Species Fund. The fund provides monies for Defenders’ Species Restoration Partnerships—a program that allows the organization to aid the restoration of imperiled animals. The program is currently working with New Jersey’s state wildlife agency and its nonprofit arm, the Conserve Wildlife Foundation of New Jersey, to train citizen-volunteers to track the movements of bobcats in the state, where they were reintroduced between 1978 and 1982. The Earth Friends Wildlife Foundation has supported Defenders since 1994 in its work with black-footed ferrets, swift fox, jaguars and wolves.
Good News for Sonoran Pronghorn
A captive-breeding program for Sonoran pronghorn at Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge in Arizona has yielded great success this year -- at press time six fawns had been born. The good news comes on top of a survey completed late last year that shows an upswing in the population of the critically-endangered mammal to about 60 in the United States. This figure is more than double the number of Sonoran pronghorn biologists found during the last census in 2002.
Although the animals still face dire threats, the new numbers and the recent fruits of the captive-breeding program (a partnership between the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Arizona Game and Fish Department, the Air Force and the Marine Corps) bring hope that the animals will survive.
