Why Alaska’s Wildlife Authorities Are Firing at an Unlimited Number of Bears From Helicopters?
Bullets reigned over bears in Alaska, and there are consequences. The state's wildlife experts opened fire on the carnivores from a helicopter, killing unlimited numbers of bears. In the aftermath of the devastation, nonprofit organizations Alaska Wildlife Alliance and the Center for Biological Diversity filed a lawsuit against the authorities. The aerial shooting was conducted as part of a predator control program reinstated by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. However, the NGOs believe that the authorities established the program without thorough research on how severely these killings can impact the population of grizzly bears and black bears. Nicole Schmitt, the executive director of Alaska Wildlife Alliance, expressed her resistance against the program initiated by the Alaskan authorities.
“The Board of Game gave the Alaska Department of Fish and Game the authority to aerially shoot any bears of any age across 40,000 square miles until 2028, with no population data or cap on the number of bears killed,” she said in a press release. The target area of the shooting is located close to several wildlife reserves. The region's southeast border is three miles away from Lake Clark National Preserve, 30 miles from Katmai National Park, and 50 miles from McNeil and Brooks Falls. The Togiak National Wildlife Refuge and the Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge are also connected to the 40,000 square miles of land. This means that the predator control program puts all bears in danger who "move across vast stretches of public lands."
The program was initially created to control wolf predation and increase prey populations, to make them available for hunting. In 2022, the plan was expanded to include bears because they preyed on the Mulchatna caribou herd. The latter had a huge population of 200,000 at its prime, but with continued predation and hunting, they were reduced to 13,000. Hunting of the species has been banned in the area, as per SFGATE.
To control predation, the state authorities have the right to kill bears to protect caribou in public lands where bears are free to roam. The program aims to conduct the brutal hunting of bears every year until 2028. The NGOs argue that the Alaskan authorities have killed over 175 grizzly bears and five black bears under the previously laid down program. They claim that the updated version of the same has been overturned by the courts, as per Alaska Beacon.
The hunting, backlash, and the Supreme Court's retaliation all took place earlier this year. Yet, the authorities of Alaska have resurrected the management program in July. “There’s no excuse for the state of Alaska to be gunning down bears from helicopters,” said Cooper Freeman, Alaska director at the Center for Biological Diversity, in a press release. “This is a disgraceful misuse of public resources and a betrayal of the trust Alaskans place in their wildlife managers," he added.
Freeman insisted that it's important for State officials to protect the wildlife for future generations instead of flaunting their powers by organizing mass killings. The press release also claimed that the Board of Game reinstated the Mulchatna bear control program without collecting bear population data that the court had required. That's why the killing and the management program are unconstitutional.
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