Wolves survival threatened by legal hunting

Alaska officials this past week began using helicopters and spotter planes to track and kill two hundred wolves in the region of Fortymile. Officials have announced their goal of killing off two-thirds of the wolves that live near the Yukon-Charlie Rivers National Preserve.
Last year state agents gunned down 84 defenseless wolves in a course of six days. Alaska’s Board of Game just approved a plan to expand aerial killing of wolves in other parts of the state and voted to allow wolf trapping just outside the borders of Denali National Park, despite the outspoken concerns of park officials.

Denali National Park’s has an already declining wolf population and wolves are a major attraction for visitors. It is estimated that only 70 wolves call the six million acre park home.

Because wolves do not understand boundaries between state and federal land the Denali famous Toklat pack is now at risk. Wolves are the most revered of animals. Now the infamous Toklat pack is caught in the crosshairs between opposing hunters and biologists.
The remaining members of the invaluable Toklat pack struggle to survive and may not unless wildlife officials provide emergency protection by expanding the too small hunting and trapping buffer zone around Denali National Park. The potential loss of this scientifically valuable wolf pack would be devastating. By simply expanding the Buffer Zone the loss of this much studied group could easily be prevented.
The pack began to disintegrate in 2005 when the alpha female was trapped and killed just steps outside the Buffer Zone. Immediately after the killing defenders called for an emergency closure of the area bordering the park, but their request was denied. As a result of the denial another member of the pack was trapped and killed in the same area.
The Toklat pack is the most studied, viewed and photographed wolves in the world. The family has been together for over six decades. Hundreds of scientists and researchers have gained invaluable insight into these wolves’ relationships and their biology. Tens of thousands of tourists have enjoyed seeing these wolves in the wild and following their lives.
The prospect of losing the Toklat pack is detrimental not only to tourists, but to hundreds of scientists and biologists who have gained immeasurable knowledge and insight into the pack’s ecological contribution.
There is a great emotional debate over wolf hunting. To help protect the wolf, we must protect the wilderness that is left. Today we understand the science of the wolf, but the soul is lost, this once crafty hunter revered and respected is now viewed by hunters and state officials as prey.
Wolves are wild animals meant to live out there lives in freedom. When human beings interfere in the life of animals, it becomes their responsibility to provide for them what they cannot provide for themselves, a safe environment to call home.
Will the wolf forever remain an animal shrouded in darkness or will it emerge strong in the light of understanding? Is today’s cry of the wolf a mournful goodbye or does it announce their determination to survive? We must all work together to ensure the song of the wolf is always heard in the wild places they call home.