SIGN: Tell Alaska’s Department of Fish and Game to Cancel Hunt of Endangered Wolves

Source September 1, 2015

Photo Credit: Vibe Images/Shutterstock.com

The state of Alaska has announced that it plans to allow a wolf hunt on Prince of Wales Island, despite recent evidence that the Alexander Archipelago wolf population on the island is in danger of extinction. In July, environmental groups asked the state to close the hunting and trapping season in response to a June report by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game showing alarmingly low levels of wolves the island. Instead of canceling the hunt, the state is allowing the harvest of nine wolves.

“Alexander Archipelago wolves on Prince of Wales have been pushed to their limit and we must stop hunting them,” said Larry Edwards, Greenpeace forest campaigner in Sitka. “Opening the season is the opposite of letting this population recover, let alone sustaining it. Today’s action could lead to its demise.”

According to the state, the newly announced quota of nine wolves is 20 percent of the pre-2014/2015 season population estimate of 89 wolves “plus a reduction for any other human-caused mortality that may occur.” The quota does not account for the 29 wolves reported killed last year, a demonstrated high level of poaching, or the fact that females make up only 25 percent of the dwindling population. Even if they can reproduce at their reduced numbers, the risk of inbreeding is high.

“Wolves on Prince of Wales have been hammered by old-growth logging that has destroyed huge swaths of their habitat and created an ever-growing road system that allows more and more hunter access to the wolves,” said Rebecca Noblin, Alaska director of the Center for Biological Diversity. “Thanks to decades of unsustainable logging, Alexander Archipelago wolves are on the precipice, and the state of Alaska is about to kick them over the edge.”

Alexander Archipelago wolves are a subspecies of gray wolves that dens in the roots of old-growth trees in the Tongass National Forest in Southeast Alaska. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in 2014 found that protecting Alexander Archipelago wolves under the Endangered Species Act “may be warranted.” The Service will decide whether to list the wolves under the Act by the end of this year.

SIGN NOW

patries71/Flickr CC

———-

Related articles

• Alaska Decides It’s Fine to Kill Endangered Wolves

Advertisement

Share this:

From JuneauEmpire on July 23, 2015 by Dan Joling

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

ANCHORAGE — Six conservation organizations want to stop hunting and trapping of a rare southeast Alaska wolf while the federal government decides whether the animals merit endangered species status.

The groups asked Fish and Game Department Commissioner Sam Cotton on Thursday to preemptively close hunting and trapping seasons for Alexander Archipelago wolves, a southeast Alaska species that den in the root systems of large trees.

They also asked the Federal Subsistence Board to close subsistence hunting and trapping, and the U.S. Forest Service to suspend logging and road-building for the Big Thorne timber sale on Prince of Wales Island, which will include old-growth forest.

Greenpeace and the Center for Biological Diversity petitioned to list the wolves as endangered in August 2011. The estimated population in the mid-1990s was 250 to 350 animals. The estimated wolf population last fall was 89, the groups said, with no more than 159 and perhaps as few as 50 animals, according to the groups.

That estimate was made before 29 wolves were legally harvested by hunters and trappers during the 2014-2015 hunting and trapping seasons.

“Alexander Archipelago wolves are one-of-a-kind, and once they’re gone, they’re not coming back,” said Rebecca Noblin, Alaska director of the Center for Biological Diversity, in a statement. “We have to protect the few remaining wolves on Prince of Wales Island right now, or they’ll be gone.”

Alexander Archipelago wolves feed on Sitka black-tailed deer. The listing petition said large-scale logging fragments forests and reduces carrying capacity for deer.

After a lawsuit last year claiming inaction by federal regulators, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service agreed in September to decide by late 2015 whether the wolves warrant endangered species protection.

Bruce Dale, state director of wildlife conservation, was not immediately available for comment.

The groups seeking the hunting and trapping suspensions include Cascadia Wildlands, Greenpeace, Center for Biological Diversity, Greater Southeast Alaska Conservation Community, The Boat Co., and Alaska Wildlife Alliance.

Related articles

• Groups want hunting season suspended for rare Alaska wolves
• Groups want hunting season suspended for rare wolves
• Groups want hunting season suspended for rare Alaska wolves
• Alaska’s coastal wolves facing multiple threats
• Alaska Confirms 60 Percent Decline in Rare Wolf Population, Still Plans Trapping and Hunting Season

Share this:

From intheshadowofthewolf on July 23, 2015

Please send off these tweets to your following at your leisure over the weekend for added support. This imperiled species needs our help urgently with as many voices as we can muster! Thank you.

**Tweetstorm**  #Wolves  #StandForWolves  Please be a voice for Archipelago Wolves: https://t.co/eEorYSwIug PLS RT

Tweet this: http://ctt.ec/U22

Alaska’s #Wolves face catastrophe, Alexander Archipelago Wolves population plummeted 60% in 1 yr. Be their voice:  goo.gl/R5FfLq

Tweet this: http://ctt.ec/zce29

**Tweetstorm**  #Wolves #SaveWolves #StandForWolves Be a voice for the imperiled Archipelago Wolves:  http://t.co/oPeXzNcwgc

Tweet this: http://ctt.ec/cbroy

Demand #Alaska call off the hunting & trapping season 4  imperiled Archipelago #Wolves PLS join tweetstorm 7/27: goo.gl/R5FfLq

Tweet this: http://ctt.ec/23g6x

Archipelago #wolves should be protected under #ESA as an #EndangeredSpecies. Help make this happen! Tweetstorm: goo.gl/R5FfLq

Tweet this: http://ctt.ec/otA39

The time to save Alaska’s #wolves is now! Be a voice for Archipelago Wolves. Please join tweetstorm 7/27 #SaveWolves Help out: goo.gl/R5FfLq

Tweet this: http://ctt.ec/nz7ma

Alaska’s Prince of Wales #Wolves are nearing #Extinction. Demand emergency protection! #StandForWolves  goo.gl/R5FfLq

Tweet this: http://ctt.ec/90TJj

Related articles

• Groups want hunting season suspended for rare Alaska wolves
• Alexander Archipelago Wolves Facing Serious Decline
• Alaska’s coastal wolves facing multiple threats
• Alexander Archipelago Wolf Population Crashes On Alaska’s Prince of Wales Island…
• Take Emergency Measures to Preserve the Few Wolves Left
• Alaska Confirms 60 Percent Decline in Rare Wolf Population, Still Plans Trapping and Hunting Season