The Alaska Wildlife Alliance recently sought an injunction in the Alaska Superior Court in Anchorage to stop the killing of brown and black bears in the calving grounds of the Mulchatna caribou herd by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADFG). . The proposed precautionary measure is necessary and justified. As you read this, unlimited numbers of bears are being shot from helicopters with shotguns.
If granted, the court order would immediately halt the month-long bear cull operation that began on May 8.
This Intensive Management program resulted in the sacrifice of 99 bears a year ago, including sows and 20 cubs. The bear reduction program, adopted in 2022 without a public hearing or opportunity to comment, is still in effect. Shockingly, any bear sighted in the Mulchatna pack’s calving grounds is being shot and killed, including bears at Wood-Tikchik State Park. So much for the parks.
Many Alaskans have expressed strong opposition to this horrific bear cull, including respected retired wildlife biologists who once worked for ADFG: John Schoen, Matt Kirchhoff and Bryan Reiley, the area biologist once responsible for the Mulchatna herd. Last year’s cost of killing bears was nearly $500,000. This must stop.
The bear reduction program is part of an effort to boost the dwindling Mulchatna caribou herd that has been suffering from a disease known as brucellosis and the effects of climate change. Their habitat in southwestern Alaska has become more overgrown and suitable for moose populations. Like other caribou herds in North America, the population has declined significantly in many regions.
But don’t blame the bears who are just trying to make a living. They are not a significant factor in the decline of the Mulchatna herd, as noted by top ADFG biologists who studied the herd for a decade.
Alaska has a bad history when it comes to killing animals that compete with human consumer interests, whether for subsistence or commercial use. Its not cute.
The Alaska Territory had a bounty on bald eagles for 36 years, starting in 1917. More than 120,000 bald eagles were killed because some fishermen argued that the eagles were catching too much salmon, harming their livelihoods, claims that were later debunked. . It’s hard to imagine that humans would kill thousands of our national emblem, our largest bird of prey, just because some selfish people didn’t want to share the bounty.
The Alaska Department of Fisheries also issued bounties on seals and sea lions because fishermen claimed that these beautiful marine mammals threatened valuable fisheries resources. Between 1927 and 1967, the Department paid $1 million in seal bounties (Alaska Fisheries Science Center Report 92-15, National Marine Fisheries Service, December 1992).
Then the poor wolves. In the past, they have been poisoned, machine-gunned from airplanes, and current ADFG predator reduction programs continue to target them in certain regions, including southwest Alaska.
Predator control is nothing new in Alaska, the only state with a complete, healthy diversity of big game and top predators. But just because Alaska is blessed with abundant wildlife doesn’t mean we should have the right to drive bears off the face of the planet with shotguns because they compete with human hunters for a dwindling herd. Bears should not be used as a scapegoat or temporary solution. In fact, bears can have a cleansing effect on the herd by removing animals sick or weakened by brucellosis. This needs to be studied further.
Under the Alaska Constitution and Intensive Management laws, ADFG must manage both its prey and predators on a sustained performance basis, conducting population surveys on a regular basis. There is no recent census or population study of bears in the Mulchatna herd calving region. There are no parameters or limits on how many bears ADFG should kill as part of this reduction program. Every bear sighted in the defined calving region is a dead bear, even if it might be scavenging a carcass, walking toward a fish stream, or fiddling with its claws. Even if it’s just an innocent puppy following its mother.
This is not wildlife management. This is a shootout at OK Corral.
If you are as outraged by this as many of us are, call Governor Mike Dunleavy and contact Commissioner Doug Vincent-Lang and the Gaming Board. Request that they immediately suspend the Mulchatna Caribou Herd Intensive Management Program.
Bears are a valuable resource in themselves, and people travel to see these magnificent creatures from all over the world. Let’s not shoot them from helicopters and leave their bloody corpses scattered on the tundra. This is more than embarrassing and disrespectful: it is a travesty. When future generations look back, what will they think about our treatment of wildlife?
Debbie Miller He is a resident of Alaska for 49 years and the author of many nature books, including Grizzly Bears of Alaska. Visit his website at debbiemilleralaska.com.
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