Airborne Hunting of Wolves in Alaska

According to what Mr. Chris Talbott wrote in his article in the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner (Alaska), more than 400 wolves were killed since 2003 in five different areas in Alaska by airborne hunting. People think that wolves have caused a decrease in the local moose population and predation, so they do not care about controlling the wolf hunting. A Research has shown that brown bears are involved in this problem much more than wolves and this is an important point Alaskans should be aware of. The Department of Fish and Game has a plan to control airborne hunting of wolves by issuing permits to private hunter-pilot teams. Although Alaskans oppose aircraft-aided hunting and state law allows citizens to make new laws through some procedures, they never thought about trying to criminalize or control the airborne wolf hunting.

Wolves, unlike the bears, are useful to us. Some people train them to be guarding wolves and some people use them to pull cargo, so I think they should illegalize or organize the airborne hunting and reduce the number of wolves being killed.

Airborne hunting is a really effective way to eliminate wolves. Talbott said: “More than 400 wolves have been killed since 2003”, so we should illegalize it for good. We should put strict punishments for air-craft hunting teams that are caught. Now if wolves represent a big danger to the moose, then it should be authorized for special people to hunt or even capture the number of wolves that brings damage on the moose population in Alaska. These people would work for the government or the Department of Wildlife.

Brown bears are not useful to human kind in anyway so it doesn’t matter if they were extinct or not; also there are plenty of them in other places, so if airborne hunting was really necessary for some people, especially notable people with connections to have their enjoyment, we should convince them of hunting other species such as the brown bears.

As I mentioned before, according to the article, Alaskans have the right to make laws and rules, so we should make them pay attention to the advantages of criminalizing all the Alaskan wolf hunting ways and protecting them from becoming extinct. They should also raise wolves so they can protect them and use them in many ways, such as using them for pulling cargos, guarding and even use them for hunting.

So we should prohibit airborne hunting by punishing whoever does it with strict punishments, guide people to hunt different species if necessary and make Alaskans pay attention to this problem and help wolves. As a lover of animals, especially wolves, because they are the symbol of strength and hope, I wish we can save them and protect them.


Reference:

Talbott, C. (2005, Nov. 8). Group targets airborne hunting. Fairbanks Daily News-Miner. Retrieved from Lexis-Nexis database, Mar. 31, 2006.