Alaska’s Wolf Control Programs 2: Biologists To Shoot Wolves From Helicopters In New “Emergency” Action
The Alaska Department of Fish and Game and Board of Game announced on March 6 that ADF&G biologists would begin shooting wolves from helicopters as soon as possible this winter in a new area. ADF&G and the board are saying it is necessary to take this action on an emergency basis to “rescue” caribou on a portion of the Alaska Peninsula (in southwest Alaska) because of a sharp decline in numbers and low calf survival (see, Alaska Peninsula wolf control, FDNM, ADN.pdf).
This is the first I have heard about the program. From what I have learned so far, it illustrates at least several key points in part 1 of this series (Feb 18 blog entry). It is alleging a “problem” that would not hold up to critical review that considered more appropriate spatial and temporal scales. It is being promoted heavily by ADF&G biologists thus far without any open, external peer review and apparently not even a full public process.
And most certainly it is not the “emergency” or “serious conservation issue” that ADF&G and the board are portraying, at least not to the extent that should preclude meaningful peer review and a comprehensive public process.
Caribou persist for decades and longer in small centers of abundance (so-called herds) in many areas of Alaska and Canada. Undoubtedly the Alaska Peninsula caribou numbers will continue to decline somewhat further because of low calf survival. But typically what happens is, at a lower number of caribou, natural predation – by eagles, wolves, bears, wolverines, etc - “switches” on and off. Fluctuating calf survival then maintains the lower number of caribou in a “stable state,” short of extinction.
ADF&G and the board are assuming that it is biologically possible and advisable to maintain a relatively high, stable number of caribou more-or-less indefinitely in one particular area, to provide an ongoing high, stable yield for local hunters. This flies in the face of virtually everything known about caribou under natural conditions and the history and prehistory of caribou subsistence hunting. Local caribou numbers rise and fall, with long lows between peaks. Ranges, including calving grounds, shift dramatically. These changes occur at scales of decades and centuries, and for just as long - without any helicopter-shooting of wolves - caribou hunters have successfully adapted and shifted their efforts accordingly.
ADF&G and the board are trying to make something highly unnatural happen that has almost no chance of succeeding in the long run. And in the process, long term behavioral and other biological damage will be done to the wolves of yet another area even if their numbers recover rapidly (Jan 19 blog entry, in archive) – which itself is by no means assured, contrary to ADF&G’s claims.
ADF&G and the board are assuming that it is biologically possible and advisable to maintain a relatively high, stable number of caribou more-or-less indefinitely in one particular area, to provide an ongoing high, stable yield for local hunters. This flies in the face of virtually everything known about caribou under natural conditions and the history and prehistory of caribou subsistence hunting. Local caribou numbers rise and fall, with long lows between peaks. Ranges, including calving grounds, shift dramatically. These changes occur at scales of decades and centuries, and for just as long - without any helicopter-shooting of wolves - caribou hunters have successfully adapted and shifted their efforts accordingly.
ADF&G and the board are trying to make something highly unnatural happen that has almost no chance of succeeding in the long run. And in the process, long term behavioral and other biological damage will be done to the wolves of yet another area even if their numbers recover rapidly (Jan 19 blog entry, in archive) – which itself is by no means assured, contrary to ADF&G’s claims.
Indeed, ADF&G doesn’t know the extent to which wolf predation is involved in suppressing calf survival on the Alaska Peninsula at present. Golden eagles and bears, sometimes even wolverines and lynx, can be much more significant predators of newborn caribou calves. This appeared to be the case (regarding eagle predation) on the Wells Creek-upper Nenana River calving grounds of the Delta caribou (southeast of Denali National Park) at certain times in the 1990s, for example.
Wolves, bears, eagles, wolverines, and other predators commonly compete in varying combinations on caribou calving grounds, such that removing one of these predators may release more predation by others. ADF&G biologists cannot lawfully kill any eagles, and apparently they have already conceded that there are numerous bears in the area.
But, no matter. Shooting another bunch of wolves for nothing wouldn’t be a big deal. Think of it like killing rats. As board member Dick Burley put it, the only other option to helicopter shooting would be to “get the feds to poison them like they do the rats” (on nearby federal land).
But, no matter. Shooting another bunch of wolves for nothing wouldn’t be a big deal. Think of it like killing rats. As board member Dick Burley put it, the only other option to helicopter shooting would be to “get the feds to poison them like they do the rats” (on nearby federal land).
(Modified in minor ways March 11, 2008)
Mar 9, 2008
Alaska Department of Fish and Game biologists are planning to shoot wolf family groups such as this one from helicopters as soon as possible this winter, in a new wolf-killing program on the Alaska Peninsula.