We are cheering the news that an Alaska hunting guide who instructed employees on snowmobiles to herd grizzly bears toward clients has lost his master guide’s license for life.

Brian Simpson of Fairbanks, operating as Wittrock Outfitters, also was fined $35,000 and sentenced to a year of probation Thursday in Nome District Court. He also was ordered to pay $2,600 in restitution for the killing of two grizzly bears. 

We are sick of so-called wildlife agencies in the U.S. not being able to discuss conservation without promoting hunting. Simpson’s disgusting behavior is the perfect example of how hunters will never have anything to do with advancing real conservation efforts. They only want to “protect” wildlife so they have animals to shoot full of bullets. Conservation is protecting populations of indigenous wildlife along with restoring and safeguarding habitats so they can flourish in their own way and so ecosystems can thrive.

Friends of Animals favors funding wildlife agencies through state general treasuries so that their mission better serves the increasing numbers of residents who participate in wildlife watching.

It’s time to disconnect conservation from hunting interests once and for all.