The state of Alaska's toolkit for increasing moose and caribou numbers includes killing wolf pups in dens, shooting wolf packs from helicopters, and adopting liberal hunting regulations that allow sportsmen to shoot grizzlies over bait.
But when state officials wanted to extend "predator control" to federal wildlife refuges, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said no. And after years of saying no, the agency late last year adopted a rule to make the denial permanent.
Alaska's elected officials called that an outrage and an infringement on state rights. The dispute reached the White House.
President Donald Trump on Monday signed a resolution approved by the U.S. House and Senate to revoke a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service rule banning most predator control on Alaska refuges. Alaska's lone U.S. representative, Republican Don Young, says Alaska was promised it could manage game animals. Refuge overseers have ignored the law, he said.
"Some of you will say, 'Oh, we have to protect the wolf puppies,'" Young told colleagues on the floor of the House. "That's not what it's about. It's about the law."
Congress explicitly gave Alaska authority to manage wildlife in the Alaska Statehood Act and two more laws, U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, an Alaska Republican, said after voting to revoke the rule.
Alaska's 16 national wildlife refuges cover about 120,000 square miles (310,800 sq. kilometers), an area slightly smaller than the state of New Mexico. Residents of rural villages living a subsistence lifestyle rely on refuges as hunting grounds. So do urban sportsmen.
Critics contend Alaska officials use unsportsmanlike techniques that would have horrified Teddy Roosevelt, creator of the first federal refuge, to boost moose and caribou numbers. Sportsmanship, however, is not a consideration, according to state authorities, when it comes to surgically removing certain numbers of predators to benefit prey populations.
Source
But when state officials wanted to extend "predator control" to federal wildlife refuges, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said no. And after years of saying no, the agency late last year adopted a rule to make the denial permanent.
Alaska's elected officials called that an outrage and an infringement on state rights. The dispute reached the White House.
President Donald Trump on Monday signed a resolution approved by the U.S. House and Senate to revoke a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service rule banning most predator control on Alaska refuges. Alaska's lone U.S. representative, Republican Don Young, says Alaska was promised it could manage game animals. Refuge overseers have ignored the law, he said.
"Some of you will say, 'Oh, we have to protect the wolf puppies,'" Young told colleagues on the floor of the House. "That's not what it's about. It's about the law."
Congress explicitly gave Alaska authority to manage wildlife in the Alaska Statehood Act and two more laws, U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, an Alaska Republican, said after voting to revoke the rule.
Alaska's 16 national wildlife refuges cover about 120,000 square miles (310,800 sq. kilometers), an area slightly smaller than the state of New Mexico. Residents of rural villages living a subsistence lifestyle rely on refuges as hunting grounds. So do urban sportsmen.
Critics contend Alaska officials use unsportsmanlike techniques that would have horrified Teddy Roosevelt, creator of the first federal refuge, to boost moose and caribou numbers. Sportsmanship, however, is not a consideration, according to state authorities, when it comes to surgically removing certain numbers of predators to benefit prey populations.
Source
How could they do that they need to rethink this to non kill!!!!!!!!
I sure am glad I'm not going to be here in 50 years to see the massive destruction some humans have done.
Pure EVIL :(
The white house is full of people who are a fool. The balance of nature has been upset by stupidity.
Mess with the balance of nature and you always end up with a mess
Where are defender's groups
Defenders groups can not do it all. Did any of you that are complaining do anything such ad emailing or calling your congressmen or the WH before the president signed the bill? I did.
Mr. Trump clearly just demonstrated he has no compassion. A great pretender.
This is terrible....How dare them even think this is alright. These are God's Creatures..hope I'm dead & gone before the world crashes from killing all animals that God gave a purpose to..
THE WHITE HOUSE IS OUT TO DESTROY EVERYTHING THEY CAN. IF NOBODY STOOS THEM WE WILL LOSE THE WILDLIFE, OUR PARKS, ETC. THEY WILL TAKE US BACK TO THE DAYS OF SMOG FILLED SKIES, AND POLLUTION. WE NEED TO PROTECT ALL OF THIS FOR FUTURE GENERATIONS TO COME.
No! I want to protest....Any ideas about stopping this
i am going to start protesting today, i am going to write letters and send them as many government people as i can find email and snail mail addresses for please help me by doing the same
Evil pure evil. Humans will only realise when the last tree falls n the last animal/bird is killed that we cant eat money. This is insanity at its worst
Please, before you start screaming save the Alaskan animals from your home in Arizona, research and find out the damage these wolves and bears are causing home owners in Alaska due to the over population of these animals.
Controlled hunts to thin the over population is one thing. i.e. Hunting seasons with bag limits. Trophy hunting is another BS proposition. But indiscriminate year around killing of animals is something entirely different. Shooting nursing mothers and their cubs in their dens is about as smart as shooting your pet goldfish in it's aquarium because it didn't reproduce as many baby goldfish as you thought it should.
Sick and tired of all the bull-crap decisions dictated by the morons in the "white House", destroying our planet, our air, our wildlife and causing irreversible worldwide destruction. What took millions and billions of years to make this planet what it is, has been destroyed, torn apart and shattered in less than a century by a bunch of degenerate greedy inbred scumbags, who are oblivious to it all, as are the majority of the idiots on the planet. This is on us - shame on mankind...
Let's start a GLOBAL PETITION!!
God help us all. We are not a good stuart of this planet
Trump's sons are big game and endangered animal hunters.
This is not right, why do we keep killing animals like this! There will be no wild animals left at this rate. Seems to me1 if it moves kill it!!!
My blood is boiling ... I'm exhausted from all of the horrendous decisions the government makes ... I can't keep up ... stop this insanity !!!!!!!
Stop this madness!! We cannot allow our planet and wildlife to be decimated! Pleeeeeeeeease do something!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This is total insanity. We must rid ourselves of this insensitive and may I say, please, insidious Trump and his entourage.
we need him to be removed from office..indeed our planet berfore he destroys everything.
what kind of idiot does this sort of thing ? we have Russia actually banning cruelty to animals..yet this American clown is approving killing.. save our planet..as somebody said we need a world petition against this.
Just follow the money...everything the great orange moron touches is done in the name of self-enrichment.It beggars belief that no-one has been able to devise a process to get rid of this clown....before he causes damage we won't be able to return from.
Stop this immediately, why can a human put an animals life to death, if that is allowed then we should be allowed to end hunters and animal killers also. Lets even this score out.
Stop destroying and killing wildlife and forests....they’re not bothering anyone and are trying to continue existing just like us....
Think about our children and the future of our future generations
Hey Scott. And I'm NOT from Arizona. But would you bitch if they started killing native animals in Arizona? Or God forbid cactus. Or gators in Florida. When I moved to Florida in 1979 you rarely saw a gator. But 40 years later they are everywhere and they have managed hunts for them. This is how they brought the population back and how they manage their populations now. About your statements on over population of Wolves & Bears. I have friends in Alaska and have never had one of them say that these animals are a major problem. Or that they have over populated the state.
Scott you sound like someone who lives in NYC and pays to trophy hunt with the Drump family.