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Time to start whacking wolves.
Hmm, sounds like chaining up a dog in Alaska is a death sentence. Seems if you're not gonna keep him in a shelter, at least you'd give him a fighting chance if you kept him loose.
Time to start carrying a handgun on the daily jog. Hmm, I wonder what firearm is the most effective against wolves?
Has someone told Steve Kroschel down at Haines about these wolf attacks, he still claims they have never attacked humans.
After spending time in my early career working with wolves, I have mixed feelings about this problem. Carrying your weapon and using it when threatened by wolves, and not feeding wolves, sounds entirely appropriate. Hunting wolves in the wilderness from helicopters or otherwise trying to eliminate their population is arrogant for someone who would chose to live in Alaska.
Concerned they should be. Hopefully they don't wait for a human to be killed or seriously injured before they take action.
Thanks for posting, I just finished reading the article and was going to post it and found you had. :)
I have a customer who goes Whitetail hunting on a ranch 6 hours north of Edmonton. The stipulation for getting to hunt there is taking any wolves they see.
This last trip, they shot one that weighed more than 200 lbs. (the deer were also huge)
If any wolf showed up here in the little village at the edge of the treeline, his fur would be hanging in someone’s shed within about one hour. As a result, the wolves tend to go away when they see or hear a person.
Wolves are like the rest of us. They seek greater opportunity where it can be found. I’ve lived in Palmer and out here, and interestingly, there was more game down there in the Mat Valley than there is up here, even though I’m surrounded by wilderness and the nearest next road is 280 miles away. Just like the Lower 48, too, there’s a fairly large population (compared to here) of people who don’t regularly hunt or fish, and people provide all sorts of habitat for the voles, squirrels, and moose of the area (not to mention dogs, cats, garbage...). It makes sense that wolves are moving into those places.
I’d say a limited hunting or trapping season in and around Fairbanks and Anchorage, and maybe an allowance to kill wolves on the spot attacking dogs. The wolves will learn quick about people. I like the wolves, personally. I’ve seen some and when I go out in the winter I wear them. I would not want to see removal of wolves... but I don’t want my dog turned into chow, either.
Good case for carrying. Shooting them would have stopped them.