Wolves from Denali’s Grant Creek Pack trapped in Stampede townships
What we most suspected would happen has indeed happened. Two wolves, one a female of breeding age, were recently snared on a dead horse within a half mile of a cabin and a mile of the park boundary. The kills were within an area formerly established by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game as a no-wolf-killing zone, in deference to the surrounding national park lands. This area was lost when the Board of Game declined to retain it when it sunsetted in 2010. The vote was close, however, and there is every reason to believe that some folks at the state level would consider bringing it back. We look forward to continuing a productive and collaborative discussion to correct problems associated with loss of this controlled use area. Read the article from the Anchorage Daily News at the following link.
http://www.adn.com/2012/05/21/2474340/2-denali-wolves-killed-in-buffer.html
In addition to the death of the wolves, also pay note in the article to the possible pollution of a drinking water source by the placement of the horse carcass.
There is a strong sense of arrogant disregard both for the value of the wolves (the killed wolf was radio-collared) as research subjects and also as tourist attractions, as well as for the well-being of area residents. All this for a handful of money.
To all the tourism boycotters-May I suggest a nice cruise off the coast of Somalia or how about a bungalow in Yemen or the Congo for a week or so?
To any who may be confused by the above comment, may I suggest its source is the trapper who shot the horse, left the carcass to attract wildlife and subsequently snared the two wolves that were part of the Grant Creek pack. That it might not make sense is now perhaps explained. The subject area should originally have been included in the National Park and Preserve under ANILCA. Failing that, it should have been retained under the more limited protection afforded by the buffer formerly in place. With the unbalanced Board of Game currently in place, and those continually nominated by Governor Parnell, reinstitution of any protection is unlikely. The best that can reported of late is that the worst of the wingnuts recently nominated by Parnell were rejected by the Alaska Legislature. But that still leaves a lot of average ones.