To the editor:

International support for Denali's wolves has evidently hit a nerve with former game official Dave Kelleyhouse ("Enough of this animal-rights nonsense about the Denali wolves," News-Miner, May 22).

Popular opposition to the wolf policy peddled by Gov. Frank Murkowski and the Alaska Board of Game must also be hitting a nerve.

And, so it seems, is Friends of Animals' brief exposition of firearms industry money and control over Alaska's wildlife policy. Not coincidentally, Dave Kelleyhouse took on the nickname "Machine Gun" Kelleyhouse after requisitioning a machine gun for wolf-shooting when he worked for Alaska's wildlife agency.

But the real rub for Dave Kelleyhouse appears to be the uniform respect shown to wolf biologist Gordon Haber, who won't play the gun manufacturers' game.

Dr. Haber could be working from an ivory tower but chooses instead to be with the wolves whose daily anguish inspires his unflinching devotion -- and it's that integrity that is respected by the national press, including the Economist and Washington Post.

Susan Russell
Information Director
Friends of Animals
Darien CT