Alaska begins shooting wolves from helicopters

The state has started shooting wolves from helicopters in Alaska's eastern interior hoping to turn around an unsuccessful aerial predator control program there. The project has raised concerns among officials at nearby Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve, where predator control is prohibited. Department of Fish and Game workers shot and killed about 30 wolves from a helicopter Saturday in the Fortymile area east of Tok. The focus area is the Fortymile Caribou Herd's calving grounds adjacent to the national preserve. Fish and Game spokeswoman Cathie Harms said the goal is to kill another 70 wolves before breakup. That number doesn't count wolves killed by permitted private pilot-gunner teams in fixed-wing aircraft or wolves taken by trappers and hunters. The total goal for the area is 200 wolves, which would leave about 100 wolves. The state estimates between 290 and 328 wolves live in the region. Preserve superintendent Greg Dudgeon said the National Park Service was notified only on Thursday about the weekend shooting. The park service asked for a no-kill buffer zone around the preserve. Dudgeon said the state refused on the grounds that the Fortymile Caribou Herd's calving grounds rim the preserve boundary. He also requested that the state review the park service's wolf population estimates, which are lower than the state's. The state refused, saying its population estimate is based on state surveys as recent as last fall...Juneau Empire

It's nice to see a state ignoring the feds, instead of the other way around.

Go Sarah!