photo by Arthur Chapman (Flickr CC)
Alaska’s main animal predators are now at risk of being shot from helicopters and fixed wing aircraft. It is already legal to bait and snare bears in Alaska, a practice even some hunting advocates find inhumane.
In order to increase the hunting of caribou and moose in the state, Alaska’s Board of Game has lifted a ban on the aerial shooting of grizzly bears, a threatened species in most US states.
State wildlife officials may now cull grizzlies by shooting them Sarah Palin style – from the sky. But its not just the bears that are at risk. It is also state policy to exterminate wolves.
From the Los Angeles Times:
The controversial “intensive management” moves are the latest in a series of increasingly aggressive control methods targeting bears and wolves in Alaska. In some parts of the state, wolf pups can be gassed in their dens, bear cubs and sows can be hunted, and wolves shot from helicopters.
The National Parks Conservation Association has made their case by testifying against what they see as ‘objectionable’ practices of culling wolves and bears.
From the Environmental News Service:
The need for regulations against bear baiting, snaring, spotlighting and shooting bear cubs in national preserves, among other issues, were raised at the hearing. Backed by letters from nearly 1,700 NPCA supporters in Alaska and throughout the northwestern United States, the group presented its strongest case.
Is this simply a case of humans competing with predators for food sources or is there something more sinister at play?