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Highlands Today

Wolves And Bears In Alaska

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Lorraine Baretela

Published: October 6, 2008

I feel compelled to respond to a letter that appeared last week regarding a commercial showing aerial hunting of wolves and bears in Alaska.

I wonder where this person got his information; it is my understanding that the area originally picked to kill all wolves is 5,000 square miles, and it was so hunters could kill three moose instead of one. While some of the hunters might be Native Americans, it was not designed to help them specifically.

Scientists studying the wolves have determined that the moose and elk populations were not in decline, and I would also like to mention that while predators kill the weak and the sick, they actually help to keep the herd healthy, while hunters tend to kill the strong and best of the animals. So what will the moose population look like in five years, and how will that help the native people in the long run? Also, I can't believe no one has mentioned the fact that not only would Gov. Palin not stop the aerial hunting, she took it a step further and gave a bounty if hunters would cut off their paws! How disgusting is that? And to shoot animals on white snow, they are so easy to "pick off' that way. Is it necessary? No, they do it for fun!

Gov. Palin has been depicted as being so maternal, I wonder if she would protect her children as good as wolves do theirs? Many a wolf has been killed in front of their den trying to protect their young, instead of running away. They mate for life and both the mother and the father raise the young. Some biologists believe that early cave men structured their family life from watching wolves. Perhaps we should do that again instead of killing everyone we see!

Lorraine Baretela
Lake Placid

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