Anchorage Press / March 30, 2011
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Bill Sherwonit
Anchorage's first-ever wolf-kill program officially began in mid-January, when a Department of Fish and Game employee "opportunistically" shot a wolf on Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson (JBER). The shooting of Wolf 1003-the number assigned to it by the state-was followed by several more kills.
Wolf 1004, snared February 7.
Wolf 1005, shot February 12.
Wolf 1006, snared February 24.
Wolf 1007, shot February 26.
Wolf 1008, snared February 28.
Wolf 1009, snared March 7.
Wolves 1010 and 1011, snared March 14.
Including one that was hit by a car in late September, humans have "removed" 10 wolves from the local landscape since the fall.
Local wildlife biologists and managers figure a few more wolves still wander the city's edges. They'd be happy to remove those, too, before the last traps are pulled in early to mid-April. But whether or not those survivors are taken out, department personnel consider their wolf-kill effort to be a success. They've "minimized" the threat that local wolves pose to humans. And with bears soon to begin leaving their dens, it seemed a good time to wind down the baited-snare program.
