Alaskan gizzlies to be killed to boost moose hunting

Following Monday's front page Washington Post story about wolf trapping in Alaska, we have more sad news from that state this week. The front page of the Wednesday April 6 Anchorage Daily News carries the headline, "State's predator control effort opens Tok area to grizzly baiting; Up to 81 bears may be killed to boost flagging moose populations."

The story opens:

"Grizzly bears wandering out of their winter dens in the eastern Interior this spring may be in for a lethal surprise -- for the first time, hunters can kill the animals after attracting them with bacon grease, doughnuts and other bait. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game hopes to see as many as 81 brown bears killed in an area north of Tok to help boost the moose population for human consumption. It's part of a broader program in the region that includes aerial shooting of more than 100 wolves this winter."

We read:

"Baiting black bears is particularly popular among bow hunters. Typically, the hunter sets out aromatic foodstuffs such as grease, dog food and pastries for several days in a row, and continues bringing bait after bears begin visiting the site. With the bears habituated to the food source, the hunter can wait in hiding to make the kill.

There is a quote from Terry Brigner, chairman of the Upper Tanana/Fortymile Fish and Game Advisory Committee: "We're getting an enormous amount of (hunting) pressure. If we don't do something to maintain a pretty high moose population, it's going to affect hunting opportunities for an awful lot of people."

Opponents fear there is danger of wiping bears out of the area, and also "baiting itself could create problems for hunters and area residents... Brown bears are more territorial and aggressive than black bears, which could make them unpredictable at a bait station. Sows with cubs, which can't be shot, could also become accustomed to human food and eventually become nuisance bears..."

You can read the whole article on line at: http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/story/6350411p-6227704c.html
And send a letter at http://www.adn.com/help/v-letters/. The Anchorage Daily News website says it publishes about half of the letters it receives.

The March 23 edition of The Economist had a excellent article on the issue headed, "Shooting one kind of animal so that hunters can shoot another."

It opens with a discussion of aerial wolf hunting:
"Wolves dine on moose and caribou, creatures favoured by Alaska's human hunters. Since the number of moose and caribou is falling, hunters are allowed to shoot the competing wolves from the air. The practice, which was common in the 1950s and 1960s, is controversial: often the wolves are chased to exhaustion, then shot when hunters land near the wolves. In 1996 and 2000, Alaska's voters turned down proposals to resume aerial 'predator control'. But these votes were reversed in 2003, a move supported by the Board of Game, a citizens' panel with authority over many wildlife decisions."

It moves on to the upcoming bear hunt:

"However, shooting one kind of animal so that hunters can shoot another worries a lot of biologists and greens. They are also angry because the state plans to kill about 80 brown bears later this spring. As with wolves, these bears are targeted because they eat moose and caribou in an area where numbers of those animals have declined. But predator control of bears is a first in Alaska, where bears are hunted for sport but have not been killed to improve hunting of moose or caribou.

"Vic Van Ballenberghe, a biologist who has studied Alaskan moose for more than two decades, is particularly concerned because bear numbers already seem to be dropping. Bears reproduce slowly, he says, so killing even a few could have large repercussions on the state's population of black, brown and grizzly bears."

The article is on line at. The Economist takes letters at: letters [at] economist.com and advises "Don't forget to include your postal address and a daytime telephone number."

I am sorry I did not get the Economist article out earlier. I just learned of it second-hand through a Grist Magazine commentary on it (posted on Animals Voices News) which says, "Shot for eating things humans want to shoot! There's a joke in there somewhere. Amid the tears."


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