Helicopter-borne Alaskan predator control agents have killed an entire wolf pack from Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve, prompting the National Parks Conservation Association to call for “immediate suspension” of the program near the national preserve. National Park Service officials, meanwhile, are wondering why the shooters killed two radio-collared wolves, as the Park Service had an agreement with Alaska Fish and Game officials that collared wolves would be spared as they were part of a long-term study of wolf behavior in the preserve. “We have meetings set tomorrow with state Fish and Game officials to ask that question,” John Quinley, the Park Service’s assistant regional director for communications and partnerships, said Thursday evening from his Anchorage office. “Basically, ‘How did this happen? You’re two days into the (predator control) program and it’s already gone against the agreement that we thought we had pretty well in place, that was easy to understand.’ We’re interested in how that fell apart so fast.” The four wolves from Yukon-Charley’s Weber Creek pack were killed Wednesday in the Fortymile area on the northwest side of the national preserve, the Park Service official said. “We’ve been studying wolf populations in Yukon-Charley for 16 years and have a long data-set to understand the population dynamics,” Mr. Quinley said. “These wolves are a value scientifically and they’re a value for visitors. Our position has been that we want to do all we can to maintain the naturally functionally ecosystems, which is a value of the Alaska parklands that you don’t find everywhere else.” NPCA officials issued a statement Thursday saying “state gunners in helicopters killed the entire Weber Creek wolf pack from Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve, including two collared wolves from a 16-year National Park Service scientific study.” “NPCA calls for the immediate suspension of the state’s wolf eradication program in and around Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve until the Park Service is fully satisfied that the biological integrity of Yukon-Charley wolf packs can be evaluated and a healthy population of wolves can be ensured,” the parks advocacy group added. (You can read the rest of this article here ) There is simply no fucking excuse for this kind of brutality.
