Ellen Lockyer, KSKA – Anchorage
A citizens volunteer group in Anchorage wants the state Department of Fish and Game to hold off on culling wolves that roam a popular state park. The Chugach State Park Citizens Advisory board has contacted Fish and Game Region 2 supervisor Mark Burch with a request that a predator control program aimed at reducing the number of wolves in the Anchorage area avoid killing the Ship Creek pack of wolves.
Gary Gustafson, Chair of the Advisory board, says that the public has had little or no notice of a draft plan to eliminate all wolves in the area.
Gustafson says that the Ship Creek wolf pack is a separate pack from one that roams near Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson that has recently been blamed for attacks on dogs and threats to humans.
Last week, Burch issued a press release detailing the success of Fish and Game’s wolf removal program. Burch said nine wolves from the base pack were eliminated through trapping and ground shooting. Tuesday, Burch said that in his viewpoint, the wolf control program is over
Burch said officials will continue to monitor the situation, and that researchers will study tissue and bone samples from the wolves to determine their dietary habits.
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