ANCHORAGE, Alaska (Environmental News Service) – A federal judge on Friday invalidated the aerial gunning of wolves in several areas of Alaska in a case brought by four conservation groups challenging the state’s wolf control program.
At the same time, Superior Court Judge William Morse upheld the practice of shooting wolves from planes and helicopters.
…In his decision, Judge Morse examined the entire history of Alaska’s wolf control programs. His ruling upholds the aerial gunning program as a whole, while banning the practice in four areas covering up to 15,000 of the total of about 60,000 square miles covered by the program.
The areas where the judge banned aerial gunning are the areas into which the Game Board extended it in 2006, notably covering the entire Forty Mile caribou herd near Tok and also in an area across Cook Inlet from Anchorage.
…From her office in Darien, Connecticut, Priscilla Feral, president of Friends of Animals, said, “Our efforts in the lawsuit stopped aerial wolf control in 12,000 – 15,000 square miles of Alaska – that’s four regions into which the state had expanded their reckless killing schemes in 2006. They’ve opened 60,000 square miles to aircraft and helicopter-assisted shooting as the bureaucracy is hell bent on killing wolves all across the state.”
“These ghastly forays must be halted by public publicy, a majority of voters on a ballot initiative in August, and through other reforms and legal challenges,” said Feral. “Alaska’s mean-spirited predator control programs are a blight on the continent. Friends of Animals is commited to holding the Board of Game’s feet to the fire; their process is a sham.”