Predator control was the subject of a Ketchikan Daily News editorial reappearing in the Juneau Empire on March 20. It rather generously pounces on activists from the Nutmeg State who advertise nationwide and ask that tourists boycott Alaska this coming summer or until Gov. Murkowski's personal Game Board stops killing wolves.
Well-trained biologists know that predator and prey are an integral part of a natural wild system, in fact, it's a critical element for maintaining that system, that is until it is beset with non-science and political meddling.
So what then happens is - that while reading an editorial about killing wolves on one page we note on yet another page of the same paper that Murkowski's infamous board has voted to increase the hunter harvest of cow moose, which is sort of like killing the female moose that calves a golden idle, or whatever.
Native Alaskans do need moose and caribou. They have been a part of their culture for eons, and non-Natives who are truly living subsistence lives need them, too. But those folks who belong, or would like to belong, to hunting clubs like the Alaska Outdoor Council really don't - with them it's totally a want and not a need thing. Add to urban wants those out-of-state hunting tourists and you may actually precipitate a moose and caribou "shortage."
So who are the fall-guys for all this? That's right - the Alaska wolf and grizzly bear.
At a time when the entire world is tipped upside down with rampant, wrong-headed, American, self-righteousness - a campaign to save Alaska's wolves from premature death may be a sensorial overload for some, though I think not as I believe many feel worldwide peace, equilibrium and sanctuary must start with those creatures who can least speak for themselves. Please do react to this wanton killing of Alaska's wild predator species. Send our governor an e-mail at <governor@gov.state.ak.us>.
Alan R. Munro / Juneau
|
