AR-News: (US AK) Wolf advice splits pack of experts

[Animalara2003 at aol.com]

adn.com
DENALI: Telling people to drive wolves off is wrong, biologist says.


By DOUG O'HARRA
Anchorage Daily News

(Published: June 13, 2004) 
The chance to watch a prowling wolf or meet the gaze of pale lupine eyes 
across brushy tundra makes Denali National Park one of the most extraordinary 
places in the world to view wildlife. 
But how people should deal with individual wolves that seem fearless has 
generated a growl of disagreement among park officials, scientists and other 
people familiar with the closely studied animals that den along the Toklat River. 
The issue is the latest wrangle over what may be the most famous wolves in 
North America -- about 100 animals that inspire intense emotions as well as 
thousands of stories, studies and photographs. 
In this instance, it's about visitors, dogs and a "keep wildlife wild" 
program put in place after close encounters in 2000 and 2001 worried park officials 
that a few wolves had gotten too bold. 
A long-standing policy that allows dogs on leashes in certain campgrounds and 
roads, combined with new advice that people shout, bang pots or even strike 
wolves that deliberately come too close, is putting both wolves and people at 
risk, according to a wildlife scientist who studies Denali wolves. 
Telling people to drive off wolves with rocks or sticks misunderstands the 
natural fearlessness of Denali wolves, Gordon Haber, a frequent critic of 
federal and state wolf management, said in a letter last month to Denali 
superintendent Paul Anderson.

full story:
http://www.adn.com/front/story/5187795p-5120676c.html 
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