FAIRBANKS — National animal rights group Defenders of Wildlife went to
court Wednesday seeking an injunction to stop the Department of Fish and
Game from shooting wolves from a helicopter in the eastern Interior.
The state began shooting wolves from a helicopter in the Fortymile region
east of Tok last weekend to supplement efforts by private pilot-gunner
teams participating in a state predator control program in the area to
increase the number of moose and caribou for hunters. As of Wednesday
afternoon, 59 wolves had been shot and killed using a helicopter,
according to Fish and Game.
The region is one of five in the state in which the department is
conducting predator control programs, but it is the only one in which a
helicopter or state personnel are being used.
Wade Willis, the Alaska representative for Defenders, filed the request
for an injunction in Anchorage District Court on Wednesday. The
organization contends new regulations approved by the state Board of Game
earlier this month allowing the use of helicopters and department
personnel to kill wolves do not go into effect until July 1 because they
were not passed during an emergency meeting.
“What they are doing in that region right now is illegal,” Willis said.
Jennifer Yuhas, communications director for Fish and Game, would not
comment on the legality of the new regulations and said the court will
decide whether or not the department can continue using a helicopter to
shoot wolves. Until then, the program will continue, she said.
“The Defenders of Wildlife chose the courts as their forum for this
debate, so that’s the proper place for it to play out,” Yuhas said.
The department is aiming to kill as many as 150 of the estimated 400
wolves in the region using a helicopter, in addition to those killed by
hunters, trappers and pilot-gunner teams participating in the state’s
predator control program.
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