OPINION: Stop the killing of Alaska’s bears

The Alaska Wildlife Alliance recently filed for an injunction at the Alaska Superior Court in Anchorage to halt the killing of brown and black bears on the calving grounds of the Mulchatna caribou herd by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADFG). The proposed injunction is necessary and warranted. An unlimited number of bears are being killed from helicopters with shotguns as you read this.

If granted, the injunction would immediately halt the monthlong bear culling operation that began on May 8.

This Intensive Management program resulted in the slaughtering of 99 bears a year ago, including sows and 20 cubs. The bear reduction program, adopted in 2022 without a public hearing or opportunity to comment, is still in effect. Shockingly, any bear spotted on the calving grounds of the Mulchatna herd is being gunned down, including bears in Wood-Tikchik State Park. So much for parks.

Many Alaskans have voiced strong opposition to this horrific shooting of bears, including respected retired wildlife biologists who once worked for ADFG: John Schoen, Matt Kirchhoff and Bryan Reiley, the area biologist once responsible for the Mulchatna herd. Last year’s cost of the bear killing spree was nearly $500,000. This must stop.

The bear reduction program is part of an effort to boost the dwindling Mulchatna Caribou Herd that has been suffering from a disease known as brucellosis and the effects of climate change. Their habitat in Southwest Alaska has become more brushy and suitable for moose populations. Like other caribou herds in North America, population numbers have dropped significantly in many regions.

But don’t blame the bears that are just trying to make a living. They are not a significant factor in the decline of the Mulchatna herd, as noted by the lead ADFG biologists who studied the herd for a decade.

Alaska has a poor history when it comes to killing animals that compete with human consumptive interests, be it subsistence or commercial use. It’s not pretty.

The Alaska Territory had a bounty on bald eagles for 36 years, beginning in 1917. More than 120,000 bald eagles were killed because some fishermen argued that eagles were taking too many salmon, harming their livelihoods — claims that were later discredited. It’s hard to imagine that humans would slaughter thousands of our national emblem, our largest bird of prey, just because some selfish people didn’t want to share the bounty.

Alaska’s Department of Fisheries also had bounties on harbor seals and sea lions because fishermen asserted that these beautiful marine mammals threatened valuable fish resources. Between 1927 and 1967, the Department paid $1 million in seal bounties (Alaska Fisheries Science Center Report 92-15, National Marine Fisheries Service, Dec. 1992).

Then the poor wolves. In the past, they’ve been poisoned, gunned down with machine guns from airplanes, and current ADFG predator reduction programs continue to target them in certain regions, including Southwest Alaska.

Predator control is nothing new in Alaska, the only state with a healthy and full diversity of big game and significant predators. But just because Alaska is blessed with abundant wildlife doesn’t mean we should have the right to blast bears off the face of the planet with shotguns because they are competing with human hunters over a dwindling herd. The bears should not be used as a scapegoat or temporary fix. In fact, the bears may have a cleansing effect on the herd by removing animals that are diseased or weakened from brucellosis. This needs to be to be further studied.

Under the Alaska Constitution and Intensive Management laws, ADFG is required to manage both prey and predators on a sustained-yield basis, conducting population studies on a regular basis. There is no recent census or population study on the bears in the Mulchatna herd calving region. There are no parameters or caps on how many bears ADFG should kill as part of this reduction program. Every bear spotted in the defined calving region is a dead bear, even if it might be scavenging on a carcass, walking to a fish stream, or twiddling its claws. Even if it’s just an innocent cub following its mother.

This is not wildlife management. This is a shoot-em-up at the OK Corral.

If you are as outraged about this, as many of us are, call Gov. Mike Dunleavy and contact Commissioner Doug Vincent-Lang and the Board of Game. Ask them to immediately suspend the Intensive Management Program for the Mulchatna caribou herd.

Bears are a valuable resource in and of themselves, and people travel to see these magnificent creatures from all over the world. Let’s not gun them down from helicopters and leave their bloody carcasses strewn on the tundra. This is more than shameful and disrespectful — this is a travesty. When future generations look back, what will they think about our treatment of wildlife?

Debbie S. Miller is a 49-year Alaska resident and the author of many nature books including Grizzly Bears of Alaska. Visit her website at debbiemilleralaska.com.

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