I have observed Alaska killing off the predators (wolves and bears) over the years to get the moose and/or caribou numbers up to satisfy one thing, and one thing only,...the out-of-state hunter tourist dollars. This shit makes me sick. Management my ass!
Sows, cubs fair game in predator-control plan with few restrictionsBy ALEX deMARBAN
Anchorage Daily News
Published: April 10, 2007
Last Modified: April 10, 2007 at 02:08 AM
Beginning this summer, Alaska hunters can kill as many black bears as they like in an area near Anchorage -- including sows and cubs -- as long as they get a free permit under Alaska's predator-control program.
Wildlife managers want to kill 900 to 1,400 black bears in the 11,000-square-mile area across Cook Inlet northwest of Anchorage because the bears are eating too many moose, said Suzan Bowen, Department of Fish and Game regulations program coordinator. The state estimates there are as many as 2,000 bears in the area.
The state doesn't call it hunting. Instead, the extraordinary measure is a predator-control program where fair-chase and other hunting ethics don't apply, Bowen said.
"This is an attempt to take as many black bears as possible," Bowen said. "Guns, bows and bait, whatever they want."
An official with at least one hunting group, however, criticized the program and said the state may have overestimated the black bear numbers.
The Game Board created the new program during its meeting last month. It becomes effective July 1. The killing will take place on the western end of the lower Susitna River and around such river drainages as the Yentna, Skwenta, Kahiltna and Deshka in game unit 16.
The bear permit will be part of the aerial wolf-kill program in that area, Bowen said. Gunners and hunters with aerial wolf-kill permits are allowed to kill wolves from planes.
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http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/wildlife/story/8780480p-8681979c.html