State wildlife officials believe they have saved more than 1,400 moose or nearly 3,000 caribou -- or some combination thereof -- with a winter program to kill wolves from aircraft, although the wolf kill remains far below what the state wanted.
Pilot-gunner teams have taken 124 wolves to date, according to Bruce Bartley, spokesman for the Alaska Division of Wildlife Conservation. The goal was 455 to 670 wolves.
Still, the kill, which is ongoing, is more than the 97 wolves gunners took last year.
The program runs as long as conditions allow or until state biologists decide wolf-kill quotas have been met. The kill has been low this year because of a March that lacked the fresh snow and good light needed for optimum hunting conditions.
The exact number of moose or caribou saved by thinning wolf populations is hard to determine. Fish and Game's ungulate survival calculations are based on an average consumption of approximately 12 moose or 24 caribou per wolf per year.
A kill of 124 wolves would thus translate to 1,488 moose or 2,976 caribou or some combination thereof.
But if the moose are small -- calves or yearlings -- and easy to kill, the wolves might eat more. If the hunting is difficult, the wolves might be forced to survive on less. And in some cases, wolves can supplement their main diet of moose and caribou with other prey such as Dall sheep or beavers.
Meanwhile, the number of moose and caribou saved for reproductive purposes, wildlife viewing and some hunting could be much smaller if wolves killed in March or April are quickly replaced by cubs in the summer. Wolves have high reproductive rates, leading some biologists to question the effectiveness of the hunts.
Studies conducted on the Kenai Peninsula by noted biologist Rolf Peterson from Michigan Technological University found that even if 40 percent of the wolves in a pack died over a winter, pack sizes could be rebuilt by the start of the next winter.
Peterson found the Kenai wolves killed, on average, one moose every 4.7 days.
The hunting efficiency of wolves in winter is what led state wildlife officials to support aerial wolf hunting -- or wolf control as it is commonly called -- in areas of the state where biologists believe moose and caribou populations have been depressed by predation from bears and wolves, bad winters or in some cases by humans overhunting them.
The ability of wolf populations to quickly rebuild and retain high rates of predation has been one of the arguments opponents of the hunts have used to criticize aerial gunning as inefficient and unnecessary. However, most opposition to the hunts is built around an affection for wolves by proponents.
Long a subject of fear and loathing in North America, wolves were exterminated in most of the Lower 48 in the last century. They hung on only in the far north forests of Minnesota until American attitudes changed, and a program was begun to restore the animals to their traditional range.
Wolves have since spread from Minnesota into nearby Midwestern states, and a reintroduction program initiated in Yellowstone National Park has helped wolves to re-establish old hunting grounds in Wyoming, Montana and Colorado. Meanwhile, the animals have become a wildlife-viewing icon for nature lovers everywhere.
CONTROVERSIAL PRACTICE
Aerial wolf control in Alaska remains highly controversial. Citizen efforts to stop it continue. Alaska voters have twice approved initiatives to stop the hunts, and another is slated to go on the ballot later this year.
In March, Superior Court Judge William F. Morse invalidated the aerial killing of wolves in several small areas of the state while issuing a ruling upholding the predator control program. The suit was filed by Friends of Animals, Defenders of Wildlife and the Alaska Wildlife Alliance.
Ron Clarke, assistant director of the state's Division of Wildlife Conservation, told The Associated Press that Morse's ruling was largely a victory for the program.
"It reaffirms the state's position," he said. "We thought we were doing it appropriately and for the most part we are."
Later in March, the shortfalls identified by Morse were fixed and the programs reactivated, according to Cathie Harms, spokeswoman for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.
But Priscilla Feral, executive director for Friends of Animals, wasn't satisfied.
"The state's mean-spirited and deeply unpopular wolf-shooting forays must stop," she told the Associated Press.
Wolf-control teams in airplanes kill a fraction of the 1,200 to 1,300 wolves taken by trappers in Alaska each year, but the airplane kills remain at the center of a hot debate.
Wolf kill summary: Preliminary Fish and Game numbers
Here is a breakdown, by game management unit, of the 124 wolves killed by same- day airborne hunting and the 157 by more traditional hunting and trapping, according to Fish and Game. Alaska has a total of 26 game management units.
GMU 13
WHERE: Nelchina Basin, a broad area generally bounded by the Glenn Highway on the south, the Denali Highway to the north, the Copper River to the east and the Chickaloon River to the west.
Desired population: 135-165
Fall population estimate: 242-296
Wolf kill, same-day airborne: 33
Wolf kill, hunting and trapping: 53
Total: 86
Post-control population: 156-210
GMU 16
WHERE: Drainage of the Yentna River, a tributary to the Susitna River just north of Anchorage
Desired population: 30-60
Fall population estimate: 106-173
Wolf kill, same day airborne: 20
Wolf kill, hunting and trapping: 23
Total: 43
Post-control population: 63-130
GMU 19A
WHERE: North slope of the Alaska Range in a huge area around the tiny village of Sleetmute
Desired population: 30-36
Fall population estimate: 59-93
Wolf kill, same day airborne: 15
Wolf kill, hunting and trapping: 16
Total: 31
Post-control population: 28-62
GMU 19D
WHERE: North slope of the Alaska Range in a huge area around the town of McGrath
Desired population: 40
Fall population estimate: 86-114
Wolf kill, same day airborne: 29
Wolf kill, hunting and trapping: 23
Total: 52
Post-control population: 34-62
GMU 12 AND 20E
WHERE: Swath of land half the length of the Alaska-Canada border from Wrangell- St. Elias National Park and Preserve in the south to the community of Eagle
Desired population: 88-103
Fall population estimate: 366-398
Wolf kill, same day airborne: 27
Wolf kill, hunting and trapping: 42
Total: 69
Post-control wolf population: 259-311
_________________________________________________________________________ "This man is Jesus, shouted one man, spilling his Guinness as Barack Obama began his inaugural address. When will he come to Kenya to save us?
The best and first guarantor of our neutrality and our independent existence is the defensive will of the people and the proverbial marksmanship of the Swiss shooter. Each soldier a good marksman! Each shot a hit! -Schweizerische Schuetzenzeitung (Swiss Shooting Federation) April, 1941
State wildlife officials believe they have saved more than 1,400 moose or nearly 3,000 caribou -- or some combination thereof -- with a winter program to kill wolves from aircraft, although the wolf kill remains far below what the state wanted.
Hmmmmm. 124 wolves or 4,400 moose / caribou.
There is some kind of moral relativism argument in here, I'm sure of it.
BTW a moose bit my sister once ~(#/
4um Traitor "If you love wealth more than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, depart from us in peace. We ask not your counsel nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains rest lightly upon you and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen.Samuel Adams
The Bible is true the flood happened. Real scientists usually know this.
Four stories of the flood PREDATE the Bible. As do many Biblical stories that have been previously recorded in Sumerian texts.
Real scientists actually know that the flood was not a WORLDWIDE event, but rather an event that occured in an ISOLATED area. How did the dinos fit into the ark? How about giraffes that were never indiginous to the area? Maybe God used quantum physics to get 'er done just as Jesus used quantum physics to feed the masses all those fishes.
The theory of evolution is equally scientific as the theory of gravity. The difference is that the theory of gravity is now LAW, while the body of evidence regarding the theory of evolution is still growing. The theory includes a much more expansive body of evidence than fossil records.
Nobody with a lick of sense regarding science denies that theory of evolution is scientific. Of coure, I don't expect a person who denies inductive reasoning in lieu of the term verifiable to understand an iota about science.
In regards to the infallible word of the Bible, refer to Jeremiah, 8, 8: How can you say, "We are wise, for we have the law of the Lord," when actually the lying pen of the scribes has handled it falsely? The Bible actually tells you that the scribes have lied and tampered with the message. What about trusting all the prophets? Jeremiah, 23, 26-27: How long shall this be in the heart of the prophesy lies? Yea, they are prophets of deceit of their own heart. Even Jesus told you to beware, Luke 24, 25: Then he (Jesus) said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart, to believe all that the prophets have spoken.
Alaskan Group Asks for Permission to Kill Wolf Pups
ANCHORAGE, Alaska Residents along the Kuskokwim River want state game managers to allow them to kill wolf pups in their dens.
Wolf numbers seem to be rising in the wilderness around Aniak, McGrath and other villages, and the task once carried out by young Native men should be employed again to help moose populations recover, said Greg Roczicka, natural resources director with Orutsaramuit Native Council in Bethel.
The tribal government and a Fish and Game advisory committee along the central Kuskokwim River have submitted separate proposals asking the Board of Game to overturn regulations outlawing the practice.
The Game Board is scheduled to consider the proposals at upcoming meetings later this month and in February.
At least one group plans to speak against the idea.
"We're fervently opposed to it," said John Toppenberg, director with Alaska Wildlife Alliance. "It's been illegal in Alaska for a long time and deservedly so. It's a Stone Age concept of wildlife management and has no place as a management tool for civilized people. It's just barbaric."
The tribal council and advisory panel also want the board to let hunters kill bear cubs in dens. Along with wolves, bears are blamed for low moose numbers around central Kuskokwim villages, said Doug Carney of Sleetmute, former chairman of Central Kuskokwim Advisory Committee.
Last year's poor aerial wolf-kill and trapping season in Game Unit 19A, located around Aniak, is factoring into concerns that wolf numbers are rebounding, he said. Aerial gunners and trappers killed 10 wolves last winter and spring, compared to more than 70 in each of the two previous years, because a lack of snow made tracking and spotting wolves difficult, he said.
This winter, people are seeing wolves more often than in the past two years, and trappers are finding more wolf tracks, said Carney, a trapper.
Roczicka said pup killing is necessary because the central Kuskokwim region once teemed with moose, consistently providing subsistence meat for hunters from Bethel and villages. Because moose numbers have plummeted in the last five years, subsistence hunting has been eliminated or sharply reduced, he said.
"It was the best moose habitat in the country and it's almost totally gone now," he said. "We want to do everything we can to get moose numbers up back to the way they were."
Reviving the practice will allow predator management to continue if the state's aerial wolf-kill program ends, said Roczikca. Efforts to stop it include a citizen's initiative to appear on the state ballot in August.
Many of the Yup'ik hunters who once controlled wolves in Western Alaska have died, but their stories have passed down, Roczicka said. People who are still alive today often share those stories, including members of Orutsararmuit, Roczicka said.
The group's seven-member council asked Roczicka in the fall to submit the Game Board proposal, he said. The old practice is referenced in a 1997 report by the National Academy of Sciences called "Wolves, Bears and their Prey in Alaska."
According to the report, Athabascans in the Interior controlled wolf numbers to protect caribou and moose by keeping track of wolf dens in hunting areas and systematically killing pups.
Other methods of wolf control that are no longer practiced and are not requested in the proposal include wiping an animal's blood on knives or sharp rocks, he said. Wolves cut themselves as they licked away the blood, bleeding to death through their mouths.
Also, some trappers would coil sharpened baleen or willow sticks into taut wads, cover them with fat and freeze the device, he said. Once gobbled by wolves, the wads would open, piercing stomachs and killing the animal, he said.
Game Board chairman Cliff Judkins said the pup-killing proposal is worth discussing.
"It certainly has merit if it's effective and is done by Native and Eskimo people," he said.
"They certainly know where the dens are at and they're not interested in wiping out wolf populations any more than we are."
If the Game Board doesn't pass Orutsararmuit's proposal at its meeting beginning Jan. 25, the central Kuskokwim Advisory committee wants its proposals passed at the Game Board's next meeting beginning Feb. 29.
The proposals only apply to Game Management Unit 19, surrounding Aniak and McGrath.
_________________________________________________________________________ "This man is Jesus, shouted one man, spilling his Guinness as Barack Obama began his inaugural address. When will he come to Kenya to save us?
The best and first guarantor of our neutrality and our independent existence is the defensive will of the people and the proverbial marksmanship of the Swiss shooter. Each soldier a good marksman! Each shot a hit! -Schweizerische Schuetzenzeitung (Swiss Shooting Federation) April, 1941
Personally, I'd like to catch and release them. Into Los Angeles County, Boston, Washington D.C., Albuquerque and NYC - among dozens of other places !!!
4um Traitor "If you love wealth more than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, depart from us in peace. We ask not your counsel nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains rest lightly upon you and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen.Samuel Adams
It could be called "letting the wolves clean up the sick/diseased/old/worthless democrats". That's the exact language the WOLF lobby uses to defend the imbalance in nature without management. The first explorers into the interior of Alaska n the 18th centurey almost starved due to a lack of game due to wolf predation, an inconvenient truth to be sure.
_________________________________________________________________________ "This man is Jesus, shouted one man, spilling his Guinness as Barack Obama began his inaugural address. When will he come to Kenya to save us?
The best and first guarantor of our neutrality and our independent existence is the defensive will of the people and the proverbial marksmanship of the Swiss shooter. Each soldier a good marksman! Each shot a hit! -Schweizerische Schuetzenzeitung (Swiss Shooting Federation) April, 1941
God made all things we can know about in six 24 hour days. He could have done it in a nano-second if he wanted to, but he chose to do it in six 24 hour days.
When was the last time you actually read your Bible?
A thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday. Psalms, xc, 4.
One day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. Peter, iii, 8.
RickyJ, which is correct? Your analysis of six 24 hour days or these Biblical sources, the inspired word of God, that contradict your own assumptions? The Bible is filled with contradictions such as this.
My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Hosea 4, 6.
For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith, virtue; and to virtue, knowledge.
Hyannis Port, Kennebunkport, City of London...Davos?
..crawford, paraguay. Absofreakintutely !
4um Traitor "If you love wealth more than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, depart from us in peace. We ask not your counsel nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains rest lightly upon you and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen.Samuel Adams
It could be called "letting the wolves clean up the sick/diseased/old/worthless democrats". That's the exact language the WOLF lobby uses to defend the imbalance in nature without management. The first explorers into the interior of Alaska n the 18th centurey almost starved due to a lack of game due to wolf predation, an inconvenient truth to be sure.
Sorry, I was flipping the elk steaks. I totally agree; it's clear to me.
4um Traitor "If you love wealth more than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, depart from us in peace. We ask not your counsel nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains rest lightly upon you and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen.Samuel Adams
Please don't mistake your amazing faith as having anything whatsoever to do with science.
Ricky, I have no difficulty distinguishing faith from science. Actually, there is much ado in the world of science to VERIFY the power of faith. The inherent quest of science is not to discount God, but rather to understand his creation.
As one of my favorite scientists, who wanted only to know God's thoughts, stated: "My religion consists of a humble admiration of the illimitable superior spirit who reveals himself in the slight details we are able to perceive with our frail and feeble mind."
And, "The further the spiritual evolution of mankind advances, the more certain it seems to me that the path to genuine religiosity does not lie through the fear of life, and the fear of death, and blind faith, but through striving after rational knowledge." (this is verified in the Bible)
And, last but surely not least, "Great spirits have always found violent opposition from mediocrities. The latter cannot understand it when a man does not thoughtlessly submit to hereditary prejudices but honestly and courageously uses his intelligence." Albert Einstein
This is the perfect case for states rights: why in the heck are people in the Lower 48 trying to dictate how Alaska manages their wildlife?? I've never seen one person from Alaska tell Colorado how to manage their elk herds or try to tell Texas how to manage their deer. Thinning out the wolves may not look pretty to some people, but aerial control is a necessity due to the size of Alaska.
The wolf lobby is real and ultimately it leads to the ban on ALL hunting.
_________________________________________________________________________ "This man is Jesus, shouted one man, spilling his Guinness as Barack Obama began his inaugural address. When will he come to Kenya to save us?
The best and first guarantor of our neutrality and our independent existence is the defensive will of the people and the proverbial marksmanship of the Swiss shooter. Each soldier a good marksman! Each shot a hit! -Schweizerische Schuetzenzeitung (Swiss Shooting Federation) April, 1941
Alaska puts bounty on wolves to boost predator control program
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - The state is offering incentives for people who kill wolves in an effort to boost Alaska's predator control program, which so far has failed to meet expected numbers.
"Several factors have led to a low wolf take this winter, so we're going to step up our efforts to meet the annual objectives in this important program," Commissioner Denby Lloyd with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game said in a statement Wednesday.
The program, now in its fourth year and operating in five areas of the state, is designed to increase moose and caribou numbers by reducing the number of predators.
The incentives include offering 180 volunteer pilots and aerial gunners $150 in cash for turning in legs of freshly killed wolves, Gov. Sarah Palin's office announced Tuesday.
The state will use the left forelegs of wolves as biological specimens, which can help biologists determine wolf age and will assist the program in the future, Lloyd said.
Defenders of Wildlife, an advocacy group opposed to the predator control program, said it was outraged by Palin's decision.
"Bounties have no place in modern wildlife management and undoubtedly would lead to the illegal killing of wolves," Karla Dutton, director of the group's Alaska office, said in a statement.
Previously, the only reward was a wolf pelt they could sell, usually for somewhere between $200 and $300, Bruce Bartley, Department of Fish and Game spokesman, told the Anchorage Daily News.
The Palin administration is anteing up cash because the number of wolf kills this winter is behind schedule. State biologists wanted 382 to 664 wolves killed by the time the snow that helps with tracking disappears this spring. The predator-control season ends April 30.
As of Tuesday morning, 98 wolves had been killed by aerial gunners, hunters and trappers.
Pilots have complained that fuel prices are too high to fly and there hasn't been enough snow on the ground to track the elusive animals, said Matt Robus, Division of Wildlife Conservation director. There are also fewer wolves to kill now because of kills in past years, he said.
More than 600 wolves have been killed under the program. The state estimates there are between 7,000 and 11,000 wolves in Alaska.
The Board of Game recently urged Palin to let state staff shoot wolves from helicopters.
Shooting from helicopters that hover close to packs would be more deadly and humane than from the airplanes that are currently allowed, board members have said.
Palin has asked Fish and Game officials to charter helicopters only as a last resort.
The governor prefers cash incentives because they are less expensive than renting helicopters, and the income helps families where the wolf killing occurs, Leighow said.
The state also plans to share information with program volunteers on where the wolves have been spotted.
_________________________________________________________________________ "This man is Jesus, shouted one man, spilling his Guinness as Barack Obama began his inaugural address. When will he come to Kenya to save us?
The best and first guarantor of our neutrality and our independent existence is the defensive will of the people and the proverbial marksmanship of the Swiss shooter. Each soldier a good marksman! Each shot a hit! -Schweizerische Schuetzenzeitung (Swiss Shooting Federation) April, 1941
i'm learning as i'm reading along here. it is a controversial issue as was stated in the last article you posted and as evidenced by this thread. i didn't realize that moose and caribou were a staple in the diets of native alaskans who might not have food otherwise. at the same time, it's really difficult to think about the suffering of the animals with these horrid kill methods described above not limited to the aerial shootings--the killing of the cubs in their dens, the bloodied knives which cause the wolves to bleed to death, the taut wads piercing their stomachs. just awful.
question. don't laugh. i'm ignorant on this and on hunting period. does or has anyone eaten wolf meat? since they're plentiful, that would seem a solution to this.
Basically, if the wolf lobby gets it's way - there will be no hunting !
Period.
The wolves gobble up all the yummy critters, there's basically no hunting left, the yummy critters die off, wolves are off limits for hunting (protected predator class) and no more hunting is the final result.
X - am I close ?
4um Traitor "If you love wealth more than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, depart from us in peace. We ask not your counsel nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains rest lightly upon you and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen.Samuel Adams
And in the world of Obamalamadingdongs, if there's no hunting - there's really no need for guns !
4um Traitor "If you love wealth more than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, depart from us in peace. We ask not your counsel nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains rest lightly upon you and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen.Samuel Adams
Alaskan Group Asks for Permission to Kill Wolf Pups
You just don't get it, do you.. This is just the type of article, that the left can use against Hunting. They can put up some pictures of Wolf Pups and everyone's heart strings are pulled.. and the next thing you know, we have more laws against moral hunting.. But damn anyone, that says what I just did.. they have to be against hunting..
It is you and your type of hunters, that will cost us our rights, to hunt in this country..
Basically, if the wolf lobby gets it's way - there will be no hunting !
Yes and No.. there are some groups that want a total ban on all Hunting and the Ownership of Guns. There are some groups that are using this type of Hunting, to push for Outlawing Guns, the Hunting part is just the means. Then there groups that want a balance manner of Hunting.
Then on the Hunting side of the issue, there are groups that join the above group, in having a balanced manner in Hunting. And then there are those like X, that seem to have a No Limit of the how and where.
And then there are those like X, that seem to have a No Limit of the how and where.
I don't see 'no limit' coming from X.
4um Traitor "If you love wealth more than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, depart from us in peace. We ask not your counsel nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains rest lightly upon you and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen.Samuel Adams
Not that I know of. I do know of some people that tried to eat coyote meat in an attempt to utilize more than just the hide/skull/claws and they couldn't drown it in enough BBQ sauce to make it palatable, I'm guessing wolf would be no better. Contrast with the fact that you can eat bear and mountain lion/panther steaks and it's supposed to be good eating.
Wildlife management has NEVER led to the extermination of any animal, unregulated hunting has. The FedGov tried to exterminate the coyote in the Lower 48 from the mid-1940's to the late 1950's and couldn't do it. The wolves aren't going anywhere.
Did you know that there are wolves in France? They're "protected", but the villagers still kill them and frustrate the French FedGov.
_________________________________________________________________________ "This man is Jesus, shouted one man, spilling his Guinness as Barack Obama began his inaugural address. When will he come to Kenya to save us?
The best and first guarantor of our neutrality and our independent existence is the defensive will of the people and the proverbial marksmanship of the Swiss shooter. Each soldier a good marksman! Each shot a hit! -Schweizerische Schuetzenzeitung (Swiss Shooting Federation) April, 1941
You got it. It's a backdoor method to eventually ban all hunting by showing cute, cuddly wolf pup pictures along with evil films of wolves being shot. Notice that ONLY WHITE MEN are shown killing wolves, not eskimo's/Indians/blacks. Deduce what you want from that, too.
_________________________________________________________________________ "This man is Jesus, shouted one man, spilling his Guinness as Barack Obama began his inaugural address. When will he come to Kenya to save us?
The best and first guarantor of our neutrality and our independent existence is the defensive will of the people and the proverbial marksmanship of the Swiss shooter. Each soldier a good marksman! Each shot a hit! -Schweizerische Schuetzenzeitung (Swiss Shooting Federation) April, 1941
Digest the following dilemna in contrast to the issue of wolves in Alaska. The problem: too many elk. The solution: shoot them. The enviro-weenie complaint: let the wolves do it. The problem with that: $$$$$$. What SHOULD have happened all along: regulated hunting by the citizens.
Elk Shooting Begins At Rocky Mountain National Park Up To 100 Elk Will Be 'Culled'
ESTES PARK, Colo. -- Elk roaming throughout Rocky Mountain National Park are being taken down one-by-one as a federal program to thin the herd gets under way.
Wednesday was the first day of the so-called "culling" operation, a controversial program meant to save the park's willow and aspen stands, which have been ravaged by the largest concentrated elk herd in the country.
The team of six to 10 volunteer hunters had trained with national park and Colorado Division of Wildlife rangers.
"The culling team has a primary shooter, a primary observer, a secondary shooter, and a secondary observer," said Larry Rogstad, with the Colorado Division of Wildlife.
Sharpshooters spotted the first herd shortly after gathering in the shadow of Longs Peak Wednesday morning, but they quickly scrapped the target because the rocky hillside didn't offer a safe shot.
"This is a heavily visited area -- Rocky Mountain National Park. And we want to ensure there is an immediate backstop behind every animal before we shoot," said Ben Bobowski, with Rocky Mountain National Park.
Soon after, a female elk was spotted in Upper Beaver Meadows and immediately taken down.
"The animal separated itself from the herd and was down in a matter of seconds," Bobowski said.
After 11 years of research, feedback and planning, the National Park Service decided to go with the culling program, with the intent that trained volunteer hunters would shoot only one or two female elk a day.
"Out of respect for the animal and the integrity of the ecosystem, it's important to do this right now," Bobowski said.
The National Park Service has been criticized for culling because there were other options. The idea of fertility control is still being researched but the DOW said reintroducing wolves to the park would not work.
"To intensely manage a pack of wolves would take an exorbitant amount of resources," Rogstad said.
Fences that encompass 61 acres have been erected in three areas to protect vegetation but fencing the entire park was impractical. The vegetation serves as food for other animals such as beaver, badgers, birds and butterflies.
The elk cannot be relocated because of chronic wasting disease.
"Moving an animal with a potential disease is certainly not a good idea," Rogstad said.
After each elk is shot, it will be tested for chronic wasting disease and then its carcass will be given away to winners of a lottery. Rogstad said 5,400 people applied to receive the meat. Selected winners will get all the meat from one carcass at no cost. The individual who gets the carcass will not get the head of the animal, which will be kept for research.
Kyle Patterson, spokeswoman for RMNP, said the number of elk killed in the culling operation pales in comparison to the number of elk legally hunted in Colorado, outside the park. In 2007, 49,000 elk were killed in the state and in 2006, 57,000 elk were killed by hunters. Patterson said a total of 1,174 of those killed in 2006 and 2007 combined were in Game Unit 20, which sits right outside RMNP.
Public hunting in the national park was outlawed in 1929 and it remains illegal.
The culling operation will occur every weekday until mid-March, pending good weather. Rocky Mountain National Park hopes to have 100 to 200 elk killed by the end of the season.
The estimated cost of the program will vary year to year, but the annual cost is estimated at $200,000, DOW officials said.
Culling takes place in many areas of the country. The DOW said it is an efficient and humane way to control and reduce herds when herd populations have exceeded the carrying capacity of their habitat.
There are about 600 to 800 elk in the park and 1,000 to 1,300 elk in and around the nearby town of Estes Park.
Rotara/christine: here's the flip side to the "elk problem" in RMNP that should blow your mind when you combine it with EVERYTHING I've flung at FormerLurker to combat his bullshit:
DENVER -- An environmental group is asking federal officials not to go through with plans to use sharpshooters to thin the elk herds in Rocky Mountain National Park.
WildEarth Guardians says in a letter sent Wednesday that the planned culling would violate a long-standing policy against most firearms in national parks.
"National Parks are supposed to be sanctuaries from firearms," said Rob Edward of WildEarth Guardians. "The National Park Service is using members of the public to solve with rifles that which should be the bailiwick of wolves," said Edward.
The Bush administration repealed the firearms ban, but a gun-control group is suing to have it reinstated.
WildEarth Guardians also says park officials didn't fully consider the release of wolves to reduce the herds before it decided on sharpshooters.
Park officials approved a plan to shoot a limited number of elk over 20 years because of overgrazing they say has damaged habitat and threatened other species.
SO, DEFENDERS OF WILDLIFE IS AGAINST WOLF HUNTING/MANAGEMENT IN ALASKA (THEY START WITH BEING OUTRAGED OVER AERIAL SHOOTING, BUT IT'S REALLY ALL HUNTING). WILDEARTH GUARDIANS IS AGAINST CULLS/HUNTING OF ELK IN RMNP AND WANTS WOLVES INTRODUCED TO KILL ELK. IT COSTS $200,000 TO CULL ELK WHICH HAVE BEEN OFF- LIMITS TO HUNTING IN RMNP SINCE 1929, A HUGE MISTAKE WHICH IS SELF-EVIDENT. THE WOLF LOBBY CAN GO TO HELL.
_________________________________________________________________________ "This man is Jesus, shouted one man, spilling his Guinness as Barack Obama began his inaugural address. When will he come to Kenya to save us?
The best and first guarantor of our neutrality and our independent existence is the defensive will of the people and the proverbial marksmanship of the Swiss shooter. Each soldier a good marksman! Each shot a hit! -Schweizerische Schuetzenzeitung (Swiss Shooting Federation) April, 1941
You have to wonder what the secondary effects of culling are. Didn't work out so well for elephants. Not advocating against it just wondering. Elephants are self aware so that may make a difference.
#383. To: X-15, Refinersfire, Rotara (#277)(Edited)
Fuck you and fuck FormerLurker, I know what kind of cock-sucking bastards you two really are
You certainly have cock on your mind X-15, as you mention it a lot. But no thanks on whatever proposition you seem to be making.
you want to ban ALL hunting and you start with the wolves/polar bears/etc. in increments.
You sound like the rabid pro-abortion freaks who were raving about how if there were a ban against partial-birth abortions, then ALL abortions would become illegal (as if that would be a bad thing).
However, as I've said at least several times here, I have no quarrel with those who hunt for food because they NEED to. My issue is with those who do it for fun.
As far as weapons, I certainly believe people have the RIGHT to own weapons to DEFEND themselves. If they need to use those weapons to hunt for food, then so be it, but to kill for pure enjoyment is depraved.
In regards to the topic of this thread, it is still highly dubious as to whether there is need for human intervention in order for caribou and moose herds to flourish. The numbers you mention in your reports from the State of Alaska make no sense, where it is claimed that each wolf is responsible for the loss of 12 moose or 24 caribou per year. That's saying that each wolf devours an entire moose each month, or two caribou each month. Perhaps a full grown lion would eat that much, but I find the estimate a bit high for a wolf...
Regardless, nature has always balanced the numbers on its own, and doesn't need man's help in controlling those numbers.
Of course there is no mention of what ELSE could be thinning the moose and caribou herds, such as the case of calves not surviving to maturity. Could it be environmental issues, such as aerial spraying (chemtrails), pollution (mercury), or other as of yet unknown reasons?
Has anybody even tried to collar some calves to see what happens to them?
FUCK YOU!!
Again, no thanks. Perhaps you can ask Rotara, he might be able to accommodate your needs...
"The real deal is this: the royalty controlling the court, the ones with the power, the ones with the ability to make a difference, with the ability to change our course, the ones who will live in infamy if we pass the tipping points, are the captains of industry, CEOs in fossil fuel companies such as EXXON/Mobil, automobile manufacturers, utilities, all of the leaders who have placed short-term profit above the fate of the planet and the well-being of our children." - James Hansen
"The real deal is this: the royalty controlling the court, the ones with the power, the ones with the ability to make a difference, with the ability to change our course, the ones who will live in infamy if we pass the tipping points, are the captains of industry, CEOs in fossil fuel companies such as EXXON/Mobil, automobile manufacturers, utilities, all of the leaders who have placed short-term profit above the fate of the planet and the well-being of our children." - James Hansen
You can't prove millions of years. Nothing you said proved shit except that you are a religious person. Your religion is evilution. It is your religion becasue you grasped hold of it because it said no God. Well believe what you want. People are still allowed to be stupid in this country.
Your comment here Nobody with a lick of sense regarding science denies that theory of evolution is scientific.
You are one stupid person. All scientists that practice true science would admit that evolution is foolish.
What came first the chicken or the egg?
How did grass evolve?
How did eyes evolve.
Evolution doesn't have any answers to anything. Your religion is a stinking corpse.
All scientists that practice true science would admit that evolution is foolish.
Name some.
You don't even know what science is apparently, you seem to think it's a religion or something...
"The real deal is this: the royalty controlling the court, the ones with the power, the ones with the ability to make a difference, with the ability to change our course, the ones who will live in infamy if we pass the tipping points, are the captains of industry, CEOs in fossil fuel companies such as EXXON/Mobil, automobile manufacturers, utilities, all of the leaders who have placed short-term profit above the fate of the planet and the well-being of our children." - James Hansen
Perhaps you'd like to say that to my face fucktard. Oh what a christian person you are, now you're ready to start shooting people who disagree with your urge to kill defenseless animals.
You are a disciple of satan if you are anything at all...
"The real deal is this: the royalty controlling the court, the ones with the power, the ones with the ability to make a difference, with the ability to change our course, the ones who will live in infamy if we pass the tipping points, are the captains of industry, CEOs in fossil fuel companies such as EXXON/Mobil, automobile manufacturers, utilities, all of the leaders who have placed short-term profit above the fate of the planet and the well-being of our children." - James Hansen
But he created time and our world is governed by it. Damn your slow
Hey idiot, how many hours are there in a day on Jupiter, Mars, or other worlds? Did it take him 24 hour days there as well, or did he make those in a different number of hour days?
You are a joke. NOWHERE in the Bible does it mention what a day is in terms of God, and for you to think it does shows you don't even know what the Bible says and doesn't say.
Besides, God doesn't write books, and for men to claim they speak for God is blasphemy.
"The real deal is this: the royalty controlling the court, the ones with the power, the ones with the ability to make a difference, with the ability to change our course, the ones who will live in infamy if we pass the tipping points, are the captains of industry, CEOs in fossil fuel companies such as EXXON/Mobil, automobile manufacturers, utilities, all of the leaders who have placed short-term profit above the fate of the planet and the well-being of our children." - James Hansen
Ricky, I have no difficulty distinguishing faith from science.
You are delusional. You can't distinguish the world right in front of your eyes from make believe. You know nothing of science. What you are calling science is nothing but a retard's faith.
You know nothing of science. What you are calling science is nothing but a retard's faith.
Hey Ricky, why don't you show us what you know about science. What does the atomic number of an element represent?
"The real deal is this: the royalty controlling the court, the ones with the power, the ones with the ability to make a difference, with the ability to change our course, the ones who will live in infamy if we pass the tipping points, are the captains of industry, CEOs in fossil fuel companies such as EXXON/Mobil, automobile manufacturers, utilities, all of the leaders who have placed short-term profit above the fate of the planet and the well-being of our children." - James Hansen
Hey idiot, how many hours are there in a day on Jupiter, Mars, or other worlds? Did it take him 24 hour days there as well, or did he make those in a different number of hour days?
I don't know why I bother with you sometimes. You need to go back to gradeschool.
God spoke to the people of this planet. Day and night cycles on this planet. 24 hours. Are you stupid or something. Why do you ask such stupid questions?
Tell me what came first the fuck or the child. How to people get here without a fuck happening first? There wasn't even any sperm unless there was a man first. Nowhere to stick it unless there was a woman. A real problem for your evil cult religion that they can't answer. I know they think we came from mud and monkeys. Keep tickling your ear with what you want to hear.
Perhaps you'd like to say that to my face fucktard. Oh what a christian person you are, now you're ready to start shooting people who disagree with your urge to kill defenseless animals.
If you want to take peoples food away. You should obviously be hunted. Then people can hunt in peace. Go eat some grass you stupid cow.
So since it isn't mentioned in the Bible, God couldn't have created the other planets in the solar system, right?
Tell me what came first the fuck or the child.
Well gee whiz dude, I guess nobody ever taught you about the "birds and the bees", eh?
What are you, 8 years old? I'll fill you in on a little secret. It wasn't the child...
A real problem for your evil cult religion that they can't answer. I know they think we came from mud and monkeys.
That you believe in magical thinking is quite obvious. Poof, here's the Earth. Poof, all of a sudden it's teaming with life, and poof, here's a guy called Adam who is the one who banged Eve and made us all, without ever wondering how we could all get here without a large amount of incest going on.
You don't even acknowledge that Adam as originally written means HUMANS, and was NOT a single man as your magical fairytale insists.
You also are ignorant of most 20th century science, and are more than likely ignorant of earlier developments, such as Newtonian physics, astronomy, and any sort of math past elementary arithmetic.
Thankfully, there are more intelligent people on this planet than you.
"The real deal is this: the royalty controlling the court, the ones with the power, the ones with the ability to make a difference, with the ability to change our course, the ones who will live in infamy if we pass the tipping points, are the captains of industry, CEOs in fossil fuel companies such as EXXON/Mobil, automobile manufacturers, utilities, all of the leaders who have placed short-term profit above the fate of the planet and the well-being of our children." - James Hansen
Try it asshole. If my Rottweiler doesn't get you, Mr. Mossberg or Mr. Glock might have something to say to you about it...
"The real deal is this: the royalty controlling the court, the ones with the power, the ones with the ability to make a difference, with the ability to change our course, the ones who will live in infamy if we pass the tipping points, are the captains of industry, CEOs in fossil fuel companies such as EXXON/Mobil, automobile manufacturers, utilities, all of the leaders who have placed short-term profit above the fate of the planet and the well-being of our children." - James Hansen
And you are of course a lying prick. I've made it clear that I don't have a quarrel with those who hunt for food out of necessity, I have a problem with douchbags who do it because they ENJOY TO KILL.
Perhaps you should go visit your pals, the Israelis. You could go kill a whole bunch of little Pali kids, that'd turn you on, wouldn't it...
"The real deal is this: the royalty controlling the court, the ones with the power, the ones with the ability to make a difference, with the ability to change our course, the ones who will live in infamy if we pass the tipping points, are the captains of industry, CEOs in fossil fuel companies such as EXXON/Mobil, automobile manufacturers, utilities, all of the leaders who have placed short-term profit above the fate of the planet and the well-being of our children." - James Hansen
Well gee whiz dude, I guess nobody ever taught you about the "birds and the bees", eh?
Then quit saying we evolved. It is insulting to people with working brains.
It is a huge problem for your gutter religion of ignoring Christ and worshiping the creatures and thinking they came from the spontaneous combustion of mud.
So if evolution is true tell me how people got here before fucking was possible. Come on your cult is depending on you.