USA: April 22, 2005
ANCHORAGE, Alaska - The alpha wolf that led a famous
Denali National Park pack in Alaska was shot and killed by a hunter last
weekend, causing dismay among activists who say wolf hunting should be
made illegal in the state.
The dead wolf was the alpha male of Denali's Toklat
family, a group of wolves that has been studied for more than six decades
and often seen by visitors to the national park. The wolf was shot legally
by a guided hunter after it ventured out of the park boundary, officials
said. "I don't think that there's any doubt that there'll be fewer Toklat
wolf sightings," said John Toppenberg, executive director of the Alaska
Wildlife Alliance.
The 7-year-old wolf, which was identified by a radio
collar that had been attached by researchers, was only one of several
recent losses for the much-studied and frequently photographed Toklat
group.
The alpha wolf had been behaving erratically and wandering
near an area outside the park where two females, including the alpha's
mate, were killed in traps over the past two months after they left the
park in search of food.
A 55-square-mile (140 sq km) buffer outside of the park
protects wolves from hunters and trappers, but conservation groups and
animal welfare activists argue that it is too small.
Cathie Harms, a spokeswoman for the Alaska Department of
Fish and Game, said the alpha's death would not affect Alaska's wolf
population.
"One wolf out of a statewide population of 7,000 to 11,000
has no biological impact," Harms said, "It is significant to people who
have developed an attachment for a particular pack of wolves or an
individual wolf."
But Gordon Haber, an independent biologist who has long
studied the Denali wolves, said the "decades-old Toklat lineage has
suffered a virtually complete social breakdown" as a result of the deaths.
Alaskans have long conducted an emotional debate over wolf
management, one that pits sportsmen who hunt moose and other game against
advocates of wildlife watching.
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