Alaska to resume ‘barbaric’ shooting of bears and wolves from helicopters
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Renewed program would allow hunters to eliminate up to 80% of the animals on 20,000 acres of state land. Alaska is set to resume the aerial gunning of bears and wolves as a population control measure aimed at boosting caribou and moose herd numbers, even as the state’s own evaluation of the practice cast doubt on its effectiveness.
The renewed program would allow hunters to eliminate up to 80% of the animals on 20,000 acres of state land. Environmental groups opposed to what they label a “barbaric” practice of shooting wildlife from helicopters is more about sport than scientific practice in part because hunters want caribou populations to increase because they are trophy animals.
“Alaska’s practice of indiscriminately strafing predators is both inhumane and inane,” said Rick Steiner, a former University of Alaska-Fairbanks ecologist now with Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (Peer), which opposes the practice. “There is no scientific evidence that this carnage will boost populations of moose and caribou, and there is a growing body of evidence that it disrupts a healthy predator/prey balance in the wild.”.
The report comes after the Biden administration effectively upheld Trump era rules that allowed for other inhumane hunting practices on federal lands in Alaska, like killing cubs in dens. Alaska’s “intensive management” allows Alaskan game agents to kill any brown bear, black bear or wolf on some state lands. Nearly 100 bears, including 20 cubs, were killed by helicopter in 2023.
