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Defenders in Action: An End in Sight for Aerial Gunning of Wolves?
aerial gunners, but a citizen petition to place
the issue on the state's 2008 ballot gives hope
that the practice might end.
Alaskan voters will have another chance next year to ban same-day airborne wolf and bear hunting in their state. More than 57,000 Alaskans recently signed a petition to place the issue on the 2008 ballot.
Submitted in October, the petition contains nearly twice as many signatures as needed to get on the state ballot. Alaskans have twice before passed ballot measures to stop aerial gunning but both were overturned by the state legislature.
Defenders is working on two fronts to stop the brutal practice. In August, Defenders, the Alaska Wildlife Alliance and the Alaska chapter of the Sierra Club filed a lawsuit in state court and in November filed a preliminary injunction to stop the state from issuing permits for aerial gunning while the lawsuit is being decided.
"The Board of Game has ignored well-established, solid science when setting up its plans and failed to obtain accurate population estimates for caribou and moose," says Defenders' Karla Dutton. State law requires the Board of Game to consider this information before embarking on any predator control program.
"To implement the plan, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game issues permits to gunners and pilots to chase wolves to exhaustion using airplanes and then land and shoot them. In some areas, permitees shoot wolves from the air. The plan allows the killing of as much as 75 percent of the wolf population in some areas of the state. Over the past three years, more than 550 wolves have been killed.
As this issue went to press, the court had not yet ruled on the preliminary injunction or the lawsuit.
Meanwhile, November's election brought both good and bad news for wolves. On the state level, Sen. Ralph Seekins, the chief proponent of aerial gunning, lost his bid for re-election, but Alaskans elected a new governor, Sarah Palin, who is in favor of predator control. On the national level, the changes in Congressional leadership could provide an opportunity to amend the airborne hunting act.
"We're hopeful politicians will finally listen to the will of Alaskan citizens," says Defenders' President Rodger Schlickeisen.
