Friends of Animals Moves to Halt Bounty Killing of Wolves
For Immediate Release: 27 March 2007
Today, in the latest news in the case FRIENDS OF ANIMALS vs. STATE OF ALASKA, Friends of Animals quickly moved for a preliminary injunction in the Superior Court for the State of Alaska to halt the State’s newest assault on wolves.
This time, the Board of Game is offering a bounty to permit holders who kill in several designated control areas, then bring in the foreleg of the dead wolf.
The Board has consistently sought to kill wolves whenever it has had the chance, stated the Friends of Animals filing, “relying on whatever justification is close at hand and ignoring or dismissing out of hand any inconvenient facts or ethical arguments.”
Friends of Animals called “predator control,” which the state carries out by a permit-based system of killing wolves from aircraft, “outdated and unethical” and “frankly barbaric.”
Added the Plaintiffs: “The Board’s history of action on this issue is one of blatant contempt for the policy preferences of the majority of Alaskans, blatant disdain for the public process, and blatant disregard for any information that runs contrary to its preconceived and outdated notion that killing wolves from planes is always a good idea.”
While turning the wolf-kill effort into a bounty hunt, the Board is now arranging an armada of shooters to exterminate as many wolves as possible over the next week, tracking them down using radio collars placed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to study them. Calling Alaska’s Board of Game “an agency run amok,” and invoking both federal and state law, Friends of Animals called for an immediate halt to the scheme.
Another Plaintiff is an Alaska resident. Priscilla Feral, president of Friends of Animals, said: “Through this filing we intend to halt these abominable practices. Our motion is expressly filed on behalf of the people of Alaska, in the interest of a thriving biocommunity, and with respect for the inherent value of wolves themselves.”
Friends of Animals, headquartered in Darien, Connecticut, is a global leader in animal rights advocacy, founded in 1957.
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17 Comments
On March 28, 2007, Thomas wrote:
Your guidelines state in part, “Please avoid negative commentary about individuals or groups which is false.” Yet in your article you state that the State of Alaska has issued a Bounty on wolves Killed in certian areas. It is a payment for part of the Valuble Pelt of the taken Wolf. The feet are to be used in science about the wolves. Then you go on to state they grasp at any reason to promote the Wolf Hunts. That is untrue. We have a predator problem in that the wolves and bears are destroying the ungulate population. The wolf hunt is to allow more baby Moose to survive. I guess that you at friends of animals do not like baby moose.
Thomas
Actually In Alaska
On March 28, 2007, Denise Boggs wrote:
Anchorage Daily News
Letter to the Editor
Published March 28, 2007
Alaska wolf kills, with sound, would be a highly watched reality TV show
I read that state game managers will pay people $150 for each dead wolf in an effort to boost Alaska’s predator-control program, using 180 volunteer pilots and aerial gunners who are the backbone of the program. All you have to do to get the cash is turn in the legs of freshly killed wolves.
I have a suggestion: Why doesn’t Gov. Sarah Palin’s office just turn this event into a reality TV show? Imagine the millions who would watch these volunteer Alaskans become barbarians before their very eyes. America would love to watch the volunteers shooting from planes as the wolves run for their lives. Carving off the legs of freshly killed wolves while listening to the buzz of chainsaws as they cut through bone would surely be the highlight of the show. What a great image of Alaska.
It is mind-numbing how callous the governor and some Alaskans are towards wolves.
Denise Boggs
Lewistown, Mont.
On March 28, 2007, Jen wrote:
It is barbaric. What can I do about this?
On March 28, 2007, James Bridges wrote:
It never ceases to amaze me as to the callousness and utter disregard for life that the average human being posesses. To shoot any animal for any other reason than survival is barbaric. To shoot wolves from the air to control their predatory instincts(to protect baby moose we’re told)is so ridiculous it defies logic. I, unfortunately am all too familiar with the mindset of hunters. Only man could be so arrogant and self centered as to believe that this earth is their home only. You people don’t have enough brains to get a headache and maybe YOU should be the target!
On March 29, 2007, julie wrote:
Gee whiz, Thomas, I guess you and the Board of Game are just smarter than mother nature, right? As an Alaskan, I am continuously horrified by the ignorance and self-righteousness of so many of my fellow residents. This program is politically motivated and not based on science. The Governor, the Board of Game, and those who support this program are making all of us pay the price for their misinformed actions. Shame on you all.
Julie
On March 29, 2007, Kathy wrote:
I think someone of you forget that God created all creatures. That also means all mankind. God said to love all creatures, but all I see is more killing of animals. How would we feel if we were the ones being hunted. We weren’t. So we should just leave the wolves alone and take a look at whats in more important and that is whats happening to our country.
On March 29, 2007, Rob wrote:
To Thomas, Actually In Alaska
I love baby moose too and suspect that Alaska wants more baby moose to kill by gunshot (read hunting). Big bucks there for big game hunting, no? I am constantly reading about Moose “problems” in Alaska such as vehicle/moose collisions, Moose invading backyards etc. You can’t have it both ways my man. The predator prey relationship will work itself out especially between wolves and moose.Check the extensive study done on Isle Royal in Michigan. Leave it alone and let the natural world do its thing!
Rob, Actually in Maine (where we have to deal with the same kind of c**p.)
On March 29, 2007, Jen wrote:
How can I contact James Bridges? I liked what he had to say about this and would like to discuss it further with him.
[Blog editors’ note: If James Bridges writes and gives permission we’ll pass you the e-mail address to write.]
On March 30, 2007, dave wrote:
here we go again, not satisfied creating an airforce to kill the wolves, now they want to cut off their legs to prove to the world just how stupid they really are. when alaska kicked their governor out they must have missed the game commision.why doesnt someone up there go and get a high-position job at the game commision and fire everybody an reinstall some people there with actual brains.we complain about canada and the seals,japan and the dolphins, china and the dogs and so on, yet in our own back yard were not just satisfied killing a wolf, we need to cut his leg off to show just how low-graded a human we can be…
On March 30, 2007, Susan GraWolfe wrote:
I’m never amazed anymore. The predator-killing-our-ungulates is getting very old. That’s what they’re there for! Science shows, time and time again, that predators make healthier herds… they make them faster (because of the chase) they make them stronger (by weeding out the old and sick), they make them more alert (have to listen for those bad old wolves and bears) and so on. It’s time to get a reality check! My honest impression of this particular issue, is it’s easier to remove your competition from a plane because they make an easier target and may keep you from bagging that easy “trophy”. Stop killing the wolves…. My 5 yo says, ‘it’s not nice to mess with Mother Nature - and is she getting P*****d!’
On March 30, 2007, Priscilla Feral wrote:
Victory!
Today, March 30, 2007, a State Superior Court Judge in Anchorage, Alaska ruled that the wolf bounty program was illegal, and the Department of Fish & Game doesn’t have the legal authority to offer it — effectively halting cash payments to hunter-pilot teams — granting us the temporary restraining order Friends of Animals sought.
A preliminary injunction regarding the aerial wolf-killing program will be addressed at a later time. Updates to follow. Meanwhile, great thanks to FoA’s legal team and to our many friends and supporters who respect free-living wolves.
Priscilla Feral
Friends of Animals
On March 31, 2007, Mike wrote:
Will you stay out of Alaska game management please?
Come up here and live for a few years, then you can try and run things. You animal rights groups do all your complaining from afar. Come up here and live in the bush for awhile.
You clowns from the lower 48 have screwed up your wildlife, why try and do the same up here?
[Blog editors’ note: Many of those researching wolves and working on interventions to halt predator killing efforts — along with bringing respectful treatment to all free -living animals in Alaska — work and reside there. We’ve said this many, many times. Moreover, the animals don’t belong to any one person, region or state; they belong to themselves and deserve to be left alone. So opinion and change will continue despite the resistance of a few stubborn special interest groups, Mike.]
On April 21, 2007, Mike Grieco wrote:
Hey Nature Killers (Man).If another species behaved like you,with all your killing methods and weak (to say the least) reasons for destoying a “delicate” part of Nature, how would you view them!?…Wolves have been here long before any of us, this means Alaska’s, Yukon’s, and the rest of North America’s ungulates would be extinct by your reasoning. Man’s evil ways are the problem, not the solution! Please use your brains not weapons. Peace & Health to all Life.—Mike
PS. THANK YOU to all you Angels who Fight the Good Fight for all Life…what goes around comes around,
On October 6, 2007, Taryn Hooper wrote:
Hunting any animal not to be used to for survival is barbaric, truly it is and if Alaska is having such a hard time finding food then why doesn’t the government step in and provide them food in remote areas? Wolves have a hard time hunting their prey and in some areas will prey on a particular animal for days just to make a kill, they do not have an easy life but that is what survival is to them. They prey on the sick and the old making a stronger population of moose and caribou for hunters to kill, sick and old meat is not good meat. Why doesn’t Alaskan wildlife management see that? The lower 48 states no longer have wolves because humans were too greedy to stop killing them and wildlife management just didn’t care. Now the only place we have down here to see wolves in the wild is Alaska, Canada, and Yellowstone. I have never seen a wolf in the wild, only in the zoo and one day I would love to visti Alaska with my family and see the beauty of nature that only Alaska offers including the chance to see a wild wolf.
On March 4, 2008, Lauren wrote:
This is somthing that is truly terrible. Who could kill a wild innocent animal for no reason at all-or ANY animal for that matter. I really hope that this evil slaughter is stopped very soon. The Lord did not just put these magnificent wolves upon the Earth only to have them killed. Wolves should roam wild without any fear of horrifing hunters shooting their dreadful guns at them. Howl and pray to God with the wolves-save them. Do not let the marvelous creatures be in harm’s way. GO WOLVES!
On June 14, 2008, layla wrote:
i just couldn’t stand if all the wolves died, i just couldn’t. i’m willing to do anything to save them.
On August 19, 2011, Donna Jordan wrote:
It should be against the law to kill God’s creatures. I believe that the wolf should be protected like the bald eagle.
If you are caught killing a wolf, it should be an automatic felony, jail time, and a stiff fine. Let’s make it a against the law to kill these beautiful animals and stop the slaughter of the wolves and their babies! This is cruelty to animals. I thought was law against cruelty to animals. It should be enforced. I used to own a wolf and she was the sweetest most beautiful animal I have ever owned, but someone took it upon themselves to kill her even though she was domesticated. My heart was broken and still is. I say let them live, because they have just as much right to live as our own pet puppies.