Denali's Most Famous Wolf Pack Wiped Out By Trappers

[hatrack]

ANCHORAGE, Alaska, March 2, 2004 (ENS) - "One of the most photographed wolf packs in Alaska has been killed by trappers, according to the Alaska Wildlife Alliance. The Margaret pack, one of two that provides over 90 percent of all of the reported wolf sightings in the state, was trapped on the edge of Denali National Park last week, the group says. Dr. Gordon Haber, who has monitored the wolves of Denali for years, was shocked when he traced the radio collar signal of the pack’s male leader to the home of a well known local trapper. Four other members of the group are missing and presumed dead.

The killing occurred in the Stampede region, a 200 square mile strip of state land that penetrates into Denali National Park. It is an area of lower elevation, bounded on three sides by park lands that are mostly mountainous. Both the Margaret and Toklat packs make the Stampede area part of their home range. The Margaret and Toklat wolves are famous. Every year about 20,000 visitors experience the thrill of seeing them, often at close range. Their images have appeared in magazines and films around the world. The Toklat wolves were the first group ever to have been studied in the wild. It is also the oldest recorded living pack, having been monitored since the late 1930s.

On Saturday Dr. Paul Joslin, wildlife director with the Alaska Wildlife Alliance which has been calling for protection for these wolves for years, asked the Alaska Board of Game to grant an immediate closure to wolf hunting and trapping on the lands where the incident occurred. “This senseless destruction of the world’s most viewed wolves has to stop,” Joslin said. “We are not asking for much. Full protection for just two packs out of an estimated 1,500 in Alaska.”

But the all hunter-trapper Board of Game, which makes all wildlife regulatory decisions on state land, sees such protection as lost hunter-trapper opportunity. Under public pressure from wildlife viewers in 2001 the Board created a zero wolf bag limit on half of the Stampede region."

EDIT

http://forests.org/articles/reader.asp?linkid=29885

[DarkPhenyx]

1. *soft rolling growl*

They just don't want to stop. Not all hunters and trappers are bad and anti-environment. Jsut the ones that get into positions of power.

[el_gato]

2. what makes this trapper think he has the right

to wipe out an entire pack

what a scumbag

[Codeblue]

3. It makes me sick

I feel like vomiting.

[Kolesar]

4. The only wolf I ever saw was in Denali NP

The only wild wolf, that is. This does make me sick