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Judge Allows State to Kill Southwest Alaska Bears in Bid to Protect Caribou This Spring
The ruling lets state crews keep removing bears from helicopter patrols as officials seek to boost calf survival in a herd that has been closed to hunting since 2021.
- On Wednesday, Anchorage Superior Court Judge Adolf Zeman ruled that Alaska wildlife agents can resume shooting bears from helicopters to help recover the Mulchatna caribou herd in Southwest Alaska.
- State officials initiated the program because the Mulchatna caribou herd, which once provided about 4,770 caribou annually for Alaska Native subsistence hunters, dropped to around 16,280 animals last year from a peak of around 190,000.
- Fish and Game has killed 191 bears in three seasons, almost all brown bears, while the Alaska Wildlife Alliance and Center for Biological Diversity continue challenging the program's legality through ongoing litigation.
- Game Commissioner Doug Vincent-Lang said "we're happy that science prevails," and crews will begin operations soon as the Mulchatna herd is expected to start calving.
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Alaska wildlife agents can kill bears from helicopters in an effort to protect caribou, judge says
A judge says Alaska wildlife agents can resume shooting and killing bears as part of a plan to help recover a herd of caribou that was once an important source of food for Alaska Native hunters.
·United States
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Court Ruling Lets State Kill Bears in Southwest Alaska Despite Ongoing Lawsuit
Center for Biological Diversity: ANCHORAGE, Alaska— An Alaska Superior Court ruling today allows the state to continue its Mulchatna bear control program and kill an unlimited number of black and brown bears across roughly 40,000 square miles of southwest Alaska this summer.
Coverage Details
Total News Sources13
Leaning Left8Leaning Right1Center3Last UpdatedBias Distribution67% Left
Bias Distribution
- 67% of the sources lean Left
67% Left
L 67%
C 25%
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