Alaska mandates predator control: CONCERNED ABOUT KILLER RATS
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 1994:
JUNEAU, Alaska––Alaska gov-
ernor Walter Hickel on April 15 signed into
law a bill that forces the Alaska Board of
Game and Department of Fish and Game to
kill predators before either reducing bag
limits or curtailing hunting seasons to pro-
tect game populations. The new law for-
malizes as state policy the approach taken
in Game Management Unit 20-A, where
131 wolves were massacred this past win-
ter so that human hunters could shoot more
moose and caribou. It also takes the deci-
sion-making authority away from the
Board of Game, which hunting interests
feared might be too susceptible to pressure
from environmentalists and animal rights
groups––much to the surprise of the envi-
ronmentalists and animal rights groups who
have tried to deal with the Board of Game
over the wolf issue since November 1992.
Said Alaska senate majority
leader Robin Taylor, “You don’t manage
game by sitting back and saying you wish
the wolf wouldn’t eat the caribou. It’s like
shooting rats in a dump. They’re a predator
you have to control.”
