AR-News: (US-AK) Demonstrators protest wolf-killing program

[jim robertson]

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http://juneauempire.com/stories/011904/sta_wolves.shtml

Demonstrators protest wolf-killing program
Friendly 'howl-in' is first in Alaska after more than 30 held so far 
nationwide

By MARY PEMBERTON
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

ANCHORAGE - Protesters gathered outside a Sitka bookstore Saturday to speak 
out against a state-sponsored program to kill wolves, and encourage people 
to tell their family and friends to boycott Alaska until the killing stops.

The protest, the first Alaska "howl-in" in more than 30 held so far 
nationwide, was in front of Old Harbor Books. Organizer Kathy Ingallinera 
said a table was set up out of the rain where organizers were getting a 
mostly friendly response from shoppers and passers-by.

By early afternoon about 40 postcards featuring a photo of a wolf had been 
handed out, with instructions to tell Gov. Frank Murkowski that relatives 
and friends will be told to stay away from Alaska until the program ends, 
Ingallinera said.


"Wolves are so mysterious most people will go their whole lives and never 
see one," she said. "It is important that Alaska not take it for granted 
that wolves will always be there."

Friends of Animals, an animal rights group based in Darien, Conn., that is 
sponsoring the protests, provided four posters for the Sitka event, 
including one of a wolf in the cross-hairs of a gun sight with the words, 
"They call it management. We call it murder."

Friends of Animals President Priscilla Feral said 32 protests were held in 
late December, and 20 more are scheduled for January to keep the pressure on 
Murkowski to abandon the aerial wolf-control program.

Murkowski has repeatedly said he will hold firm to the program under way in 
McGrath and the Nelchina Basin out of concern for residents who have long 
complained that wolves and bears are eating too many moose calves, leaving 
them with too few moose to eat.

The Board of Game approved the killing of about 40 wolves in a 
1,700-square-mile area near McGrath and about 140 wolves in an 
8,000-square-mile area in the Nelchina basin.

In the McGrath area program, hunters are allowed to shoot the animals from 
planes. The Nelchina basin pilot and hunter teams are required to land 
before shooting.

"We deplore the killing of wolves to suit the convenience of moose hunters 
and to provide a thrill for pilots. Modern society should not tolerate 
this," Feral said in a statement.

Friends of Animals, with about 200,000 members, was behind a similar call 
for a tourism boycott a decade ago to protest lethal wolf control.

Feral said that campaign launched under then-Gov. Walter J. Hickel was 
successful in getting a moratorium, but it has been harder getting through 
to Murkowski. The call to boycott Alaska's estimated $2 billion a year 
tourism industry is an attempt to get his attention, she said.

Rebecca Jones, 29, who moved to Sitka three years ago, said Murkowski is not 
listening to Alaskans who think the program is wrong, only to big-game 
hunters. Jones is telling her family in Wichita, Kansas, not to visit.

"I've only seen wolves in a zoo," she said. "They will soon disappear if we 
allow this. It is wrong to shoot them."

Ingallinera, a nurse practitioner who also is executive director of the Last 
Resort Animal Sanctuary, which tries to find homes for abandoned dogs, said 
other remedies can be found.

She suggests that the state use the money it is spending on the program for 
food drives for people in the McGrath and Nelchina areas. The state so far 
has about $1,300 invested in each moose calf that would be saved under the 
program.

"Anytime we put our hands in this predator-prey thing it doesn't work," 
Ingallinera said. "Look at what we did. We wiped out the bears in 
California. Wolves in the Lower 48, they used to be in every state."

With the protest a couple of hours old, Ingallinera said they were running 
out of postcards and would have to run to the local store for more.

"Most people are supportive," she said. "So far, no one has said anything 
bad."

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