Fortymile Wolf Sterilization Plan Slated To Begin
By Cindy Lowry

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) is gearing up to start sterilizing the alpha pairs of several wolf families in the Fortymile area before December. Next spring they plan on relocating surviving yearlings from those family groups. The purported goal is to decrease wolf numbers in order to increase the Fortymile caribou herd for hunters. The state ignores the fact that the caribou herd has grown at a rate of 5-10% over the last two years, which already meets their minimum goal of 5% for this particular wolf control program. Additionally, the herd has increased over 400% in the last 20 years!

So why is wolf control necessary? It's not! Adding insult to injury is that ADF&G fully endorses a private wolf bounty program that pays $400 per wolf which results in Fortymile wolves continuing to be killed at an alarming rate. During the past two years, 208 wolves have been targeted and killed by participants in this private bounty program, which far exceeds the wolf control program's removal goals. Some hunting and trapping associations have petitioned the Alaska Board of Game (BOG) and the Fortymile Plan Team to put off implementing this wolf control program because they are enjoying so much success in killing wolves through the bounty program. Not surprisingly, the Fortymile Plan Team recently voted against their petition and we can expect the BOG to do likewise.

The state continues to allow saturation snaring in this area, which is the land-based equivalent of high seas driftnetting, and is responsible for the killing of non-target wildlife species like moose, caribou, bears, and eagles, as well as wolves. Wolf control in the Fortymile area is entirely unnecessary and biologically, ethically, and fiscally unsound. ADF&G states that in 1995-96, 60 % of the wolves frequenting the Fortymile caribou herd range were legally killed by hunting and trapping. Instead of considering wolf control in the area, the state should be implementing safeguards for the future viability of Fortymile wolves. Many of the wolves belong to families residing in Yukon-Charley National Preserve! This is federal land and the management of its wildlife is a matter of national interest.

Thrown into this quagmire is the Governor Tony Knowles current moratorium on all wolf control programs until after the release of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) review on wolf and bear management programs. As mentioned in a related article on page 4, this review is scheduled to be made public on October 28. At that time, the Administration will review the Academy's report and make decisions on pending wolf control programs on a case by case basis. Despite last year's overwhelming vote by Alaskans to ban same-day-airborne hunting of wolves, Governor Knowles has not yet realized that the public is fed up with the state's draconian wildlife management practices.

Not to be put off by the pending release of the NAS report, however, ADF&G is steaming ahead with their plans to conduct these barbaric field experiments on Fortymile wolves. In a recent news article, ADF&G employees stated that "most wolf packs frequenting the Fortymile herd's calving ground have been radio-collared." While this wolf control program continues to be misleadingly billed as non-lethal, ADF&G is well aware that wolves will undoubtedly be killed as result of the attempted field sterilization.

In addition to sterilizing wolves, ADF&G plans to relocate Fortymile wolf pups to the Kenai Peninsula. In a recent Draft Environmental Assessment (DEA) regarding the proposed translocation, ADF&G goes so far as to say "... it is anticipated that approximately 40 percent of the translocated wolves are likely to survive for one year after being translocated." Hunting and trapping of translocated wolves will be allowed unless their mortality reaches 40% before March 1 of the year following their translocation. But not to worry, then an emergency closure would be implemented.

One of the major reasons ADF&G is considering the Kenai for relocation is in the hopes that healthy Fortymile wolves will benefit the gene pool of the Kenai wolf population, however, the Kenai wolves are lice infested. ADF&G is pushing for the translocation even though it knows the anti-lice treatment it will give to the Fortymile wolves is only effective for 3-4 months. In addition, the DEA states "Wolves on the Kenai Peninsula have a relatively high exposure rate to parvo virus." So, in addition to being subjected to sterilization in the field, Fortymile wolves will also be in jeopardy of becoming lice-infested and exposed to parvo virus if they make it to the Kenai. Suffice it to say, the Alliance is opposed to the translocation of wolves to the Kenai.

In the meantime, the Alliance drafted and sponsored a letter to the Governor calling for an end to this wolf control program before it actually begins. At the Alliance's urging, the following environmental groups signed onto this letter: Coastal Coalition, Common Roots, Defenders of Wildlife, Greenpeace, Kachemak Bay Conservation Society, Lynn Canal Conservation Society, Sierra Club, Sitka Conservation Society, and the Tongass Conservation Society. In separate letters, Earth Justice and the Alaska Center for the Environment also asked the Governor to stop this program.

It's not too late to stop this barbaric wolf control program. Please write Governor Tony Knowles ASAP and ask him to stop this misguided and destructive plan.

The Alliance will be providing updates and action alerts on this issue as events unfold this fall.