Environmentalists sue Alaska over sanctioned killing of 99 bears [View all]

ANCHORAGE (CN) — An Alaska wildlife advocacy organization sued the state, its game board and the commissioner of the state agency that oversees hunting and fishing on Monday for unlawfully adopting a predator control program that killed 99 bears in less than a month.

In a 20-page suit filed in Alaska Superior Court on Monday, the Alaska Wildlife Alliance objected to an amendment of a proposal originally addressing wolf management to include bears without regard for state due process requirements for public notice and public comment during a January Alaska Board of Game meeting.

“There was no opportunity for public or state biologists to comment on adding bears to the predator control program, nor did the board hear any reports or presentations from the Alaska Department of Fish and Game on bear populations in the region before adopting the proposal. In fact, the Department of Fish and Game has never conducted a bear population survey in the area,” the alliance says in the complaint.

This amendment resulted in the killing of 94 brown bears — including 11 cubs — five black bears and five wolves on the Mulchatna caribou calving grounds, ranging through southwest Alaska's Togiak National Wildlife Refuge, Wood-Tikchik State Park and several Bristol Bay-area villages. The killings took place only on state-owned land via helicopters and airplanes and occurred from May 10 and June 4.


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