Chicago, Illinois — In a March 14th editorial, the New York Times called Alaska’s war on wolves an example of “the savagery of humans” and declared, “There’s nothing sporting about deploying an air force to hunt animals.” As aerial wolf-killing in Alaska accelerates, so does the urgency of citizens across the country organizing Howl-Ins to boycott travel to Alaska.
Action Volunteers for Animals will be holding a Howl-In at Water Tower Place on Michigan Avenue, from 11am-2pm on Saturday, March 20th. Chicago joins Cincinnati (OH), Buffalo (NY), Sitka (AK), Palo Alto (CA), Vashon Island (WA), and Dallas (TX) in protest this weekend. Howl-Ins educate the public about Alaska’s state-sponsored aerial wolf-shooting program, and spread the word about our tourism boycott of Alaska.
Since January, 112 wolves have been chased down and shot in the Nelchina Basin region and 19 wolves in the McGrath region of Alaska. In the first week of March, the Board of Game expanded the shooting spree — now going after bears, and nearly doubling the firing range in the McGrath area from the original 1,728 square miles to 3,588 square miles. In the second week of March, the Board opened additional areas encompassing about 20,000 square miles. The Board also quietly reduced the no-hunting-or trapping buffer zone outside Denali National Park.
Priscilla Feral, president of FoA, stated: “The Board of Game is trying to erase 8 years of progressive policy made under former governor Tony Knowles. These wolf and bear-killing schemes show how uncivilized the policy-makers are. They shame the entire country.”
Governor Murkowski, the incumbent who appointed 6 of the 7 current Board of Game members, has ignored the citizens of Alaska, who have twice voted against these schemes (in 1996 and 2000 voter referenda). In response, protestors have sent over 80,000 “Boycott Alaska” postcards. Letters, faxes, emails, and phone calls have come to Governor Murkowski’s office from all over the globe, pledging to boycott Alaska’s $2 billion-a-year tourism industry until the aerial wolf-shooting stops.