ShopDreamUp AI ArtDreamUp
Deviation Actions
After all this time that I and AoW have stood against aerial hunting of wolves and bears in Alaska, the barbaric practices have finally stopped. Ever since I was just a teenager, I had wished for this type of hunting to cease. My pleas have been answered many years later.
The Obama administration is banning sport hunting of bears and wolves on federal lands in Alaska's outback in an effort to stop what it calls the unethical practices of the state's game board, practices that former Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin has touted.
The Fish and Wildlife Service on Wednesday approved the regulations that ban hunting in Alaska's national wildlife refuges without express permission from Washington and without proving it would serve a vital role in the conservation of the species.
"In the name of hunters and hunting, [the Alaska Board of Game] have approved shooting of brown and grizzly bears over bait; shooting mother bears with cubs, and even the cubs themselves; targeting bears and wolves from planes; and killing wolves and wolf pups in their dens," said Fish and Wildlife Director Dan Ashe in a blog post.
The practices he is referring to are those that Palin, a former Alaska governor, has touted in support of maintaining the caribou and moose herds that rural Alaskans depend on as a food source. She was criticized by conservation groups and Democrats for supporting the hunting and shooting of wolves from helicopters.
"This is not sportsmanship," Ashe said. "It is purportedly aimed at increasing populations of caribou and moose but defies modern science of predator-prey relationships. And finally, it is inconsistent with the laws guiding management of our National Wildlife Refuges in Alaska."
He added that the practices are "wholly at odds with America's long tradition of ethical, sportsmanlike, fair-chase hunting, in something they call 'intensive predator management.'"
The regulations come in response to what Ashe called a persistent movement in the nation to give states ultimate authority over federal lands, alluding to a clause in the Republican Party's national platform that was approved in Cleveland last month.
"Special interest groups are quietly working at the federal and state level to lay the groundwork for federally managed lands to be handed over wholesale to state or even private ownership," he said. "Others have sought to erode federal management authority piecemeal, dealing death by a thousand cuts.
"Unfortunately, without the protections of federal law and the public engagement it ensures, this heritage is incredibly vulnerable," he said.
The new rules "clarify that predator control is not allowed on national wildlife refuges in the state unless based on sound science and in response to a conservation concern or is necessary to meet refuge purposes, federal laws or [Fish and Wildlife Service] policy," the agency said. "In addition, the rule defines the process that will be used for considering predator control, prohibits certain methods and means for non-subsistence harvest of predators, and updates the procedures for closing an area or restricting an activity on refuges in Alaska."
The wildlife agency proposed the ban in January for a 90-day public comment that ended in April. Wednesday's action makes the rule final.
The Obama administration is banning sport hunting of bears and wolves on federal lands in Alaska's outback in an effort to stop what it calls the unethical practices of the state's game board, practices that former Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin has touted.
The Fish and Wildlife Service on Wednesday approved the regulations that ban hunting in Alaska's national wildlife refuges without express permission from Washington and without proving it would serve a vital role in the conservation of the species.
"In the name of hunters and hunting, [the Alaska Board of Game] have approved shooting of brown and grizzly bears over bait; shooting mother bears with cubs, and even the cubs themselves; targeting bears and wolves from planes; and killing wolves and wolf pups in their dens," said Fish and Wildlife Director Dan Ashe in a blog post.
The practices he is referring to are those that Palin, a former Alaska governor, has touted in support of maintaining the caribou and moose herds that rural Alaskans depend on as a food source. She was criticized by conservation groups and Democrats for supporting the hunting and shooting of wolves from helicopters.
"This is not sportsmanship," Ashe said. "It is purportedly aimed at increasing populations of caribou and moose but defies modern science of predator-prey relationships. And finally, it is inconsistent with the laws guiding management of our National Wildlife Refuges in Alaska."
He added that the practices are "wholly at odds with America's long tradition of ethical, sportsmanlike, fair-chase hunting, in something they call 'intensive predator management.'"
The regulations come in response to what Ashe called a persistent movement in the nation to give states ultimate authority over federal lands, alluding to a clause in the Republican Party's national platform that was approved in Cleveland last month.
"Special interest groups are quietly working at the federal and state level to lay the groundwork for federally managed lands to be handed over wholesale to state or even private ownership," he said. "Others have sought to erode federal management authority piecemeal, dealing death by a thousand cuts.
"Unfortunately, without the protections of federal law and the public engagement it ensures, this heritage is incredibly vulnerable," he said.
The new rules "clarify that predator control is not allowed on national wildlife refuges in the state unless based on sound science and in response to a conservation concern or is necessary to meet refuge purposes, federal laws or [Fish and Wildlife Service] policy," the agency said. "In addition, the rule defines the process that will be used for considering predator control, prohibits certain methods and means for non-subsistence harvest of predators, and updates the procedures for closing an area or restricting an activity on refuges in Alaska."
The wildlife agency proposed the ban in January for a 90-day public comment that ended in April. Wednesday's action makes the rule final.
the Kolmarden zoo story
Though many years passed since this story, I thought I would still reblog this. Unlike the theme of many blog entries here, in this story, it is not the wolves who died but it makes us think. What happened in the Kolmarden zoo is related to the obsolete 'alpha wolf theory' and why bad handling of captive wolves should be avoided. Plus, apparently, greed also played a major role in this tragic case...
Read the original blog here: https://www.facebook.com/notes/animal-zoolution/what-happened-at-kolmarden/1024883427569654?hc_location=ufi&__mref=message_bubble
THE WAR ON WOLVES ACT
Signal boosting this issue:
http://miz-liz.deviantart.com/journal/THE-WAR-ON-WOLVES-ACT-659311046
Please take a look, we need more eyes on this.
Court Stops USFWS From Killing Red Wolves
On behalf of Defenders of Wildlife, the Animal Welfare Institute and the Red Wolf Coalition, the Southern Environmental Law Center argued in a court hearing on Sept. 14 that a preliminary injunction was needed to stop the agency from harming these native wolves in the wild.
Earlier that week, the agency announced its proposal to remove most members of the world's only wild population of red wolves that roam a five county area in northeastern North Carolina and put them into captivity, abandoning all protective efforts except in one refuge where one pack lives and in a bombing range.
"This is a great day for red wolves and for anyone who lov
Government Culling Increases Poaching Activity
In a paper published Tuesday, researchers from Wisconsin and Sweden have found that poaching appears to increase when governments are allowed to killed wolves.
Governments often take on the job of killing problem wolves that attack livestock in order to increase public tolerance for the predators and, in theory, to reduce poaching by frustrated citizens.
Turns out, it could be having the opposite effect.
In what is likely to be a controversial finding, researchers from Wisconsin and Sweden have found that poaching appears to increase when governments are allowed to kill wolves.
The most likely explanation, they said in a paper published T
Featured in Groups
© 2016 - 2024 A-O-W
Comments3
Join the community to add your comment. Already a deviant? Log In