For ex-governor Frank “The Bank” Murkowski killing wolves was all about business and politics. But for Sarah “Float Plane” Palin and Sean “Polar Bear“ Parnell there also has to be some of that ol‘ “dominion“ over the beasts thing going on. This ecclesiastical confusion has allowed the Corey Rossi types to take over---game managers who love killing animals way too much and can’t seem to control themselves.
From the tone of some Board of Game members there is also a touch of vengeance against animal rights activists. This whole bear-snaring thing seems like the in-your-face gesture of a hunting establishment that believes Alaska’s wildlife was God-given just to them and they’ll show those “outside” animal rights activists and all those other namby-pambies they can kill anything they please and cannot be stopped. “Outside hunters” are fine but not “outside animal rights activists.”
The State has no compelling reason to kill bears let alone large numbers of wolves. Even the snare-shoot-trap-kill boys can’t justify killing grizzlies---it’s a preemptive war on bears to show the legislature they are keeping all predators under “control” so the state can fulfill its wacky, self-imposed imperative of a moose entitlement for every Alaskan. And its covert imperative of a big rack for every guided outside hunter.
If any moose were “saved” by Alaska’s orgy of wolf-killing those moose are now road-kill---starving to death and getting hit by cars and railroad trains as they cluster along roads and rails in this years’ heavy snowfall. Just like the real wildlife biologists predicted! It was all for nothing but to benefit the hunting-killing-guiding industry.
Bear-snaring is just the latest in a long string of wildlife violations by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game and the commercial-political establishment running that antiscientific agency. As three-score genuine wildlife biologists found out when they tried to block the appointment of the unqualified and ultimately corrupt Palin-pal Corey Rossi to a top agency post, there is no appeal to science.
Bear-snaring is barely being debated, never mind rationally. Aw, let the boys ride around and kill stuff…as long as we keep the oil-money flowing all’s right with the land. The “debate,” such as it is, is useless. Gee, is it “hunting” or “predator control?“ Gosh, is it “fair chase” or is it a “management tool?” Is it “humane?“ [Hell no!] And doesn’t the Alaska Constitution “mandate” that the Department of Fish and Game kill and kill until nothing is left but moose? Didn’t the Alaska Legislature pass a bizarre law in 1994 directing state officials to adopt an “intensive management” policy aimed at maximizing the production of human food species---if necessary, at the expense of bears, wolves and other predators?
If Alaskans were really starving there wouldn’t be a songbird left alive. The idea of living off the land is dead. It’s over. It’s a legend a myth and a fantasy. Alaska is managing wildlife based on motorized myths and rump-rider fantasies. Fish and Game can barely fend off the desires of rich guys to hunt from helicopters. But the wildlife stewards are more than willing to sacrifice Alaska’s most iconic wild animals, including the great grizzly bears---snaring them by their feet and making them suffer to atone for our wildlife management sins.
The public is supposed to give its little input at public hearings and those opposed to the mass killings are supposed to provide unemotional witness and all of it has been and will be ignored---the State will just keep on doing what it wants anyway.
The truth is that Alaska, the Alaskan spirit, the Alaskan lifestyle is dying a horrible death with its foot caught in a snare. Most Alaskans live like they do in the Lower-48 and are out of touch with the land. Alaskans are, at best, thoughtless when it comes to dealing with their great wildlife. We have turned wildlife management over to unfeeling, unthinking and devious little brutes! The entire wildlife management thing is guided by the commercial and political exploitation of recreational desires. The tolerance for political corruption by the Alaska public is now the real legend of the Last Frontier. The demonstrated corruptions and scandals in our wildlife agency don‘t seem to matter---Alaskans are so preoccupied trying to live like they do in the Lower-48 they can’t hear the great bears screaming in agony as wire snares tighten around their feet.
- Rudy Wittshirk
