The renewed program allows hunters to remove up to 80% the animals from 20,000 acres of State land.

Alaska will resume aerial shooting of bears and other wolves to control their population and increase the number of caribou herds and moose, despite the fact that the state’s evaluation of this practice has cast doubts on its effectiveness.

The new program allows hunters to kill up to 80% the animals in a 20,000-acre (8,000-hectare) area of state land. The environmental groups that oppose what they call a “barbaric practice” of shooting wildlife out of helicopters are more concerned with sport than science, in part because hunters desire to see caribou numbers increase as trophy animals.

Rick Steiner, an ecologist with Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility who opposes Alaska’s practice of indiscriminately shooting predators in the face is adamant that it is inhumane. There is no evidence to suggest that the carnage is increasing the moose or caribou populations. In fact, there are growing evidences that this practice disrupts a healthy balance between predators and prey in nature.

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The report follows the Biden administration’s effective upholding of Trump-era rules which allowed other inhumane hunt practices in Alaska such as killing cubs within their dens.

Alaska’s “intensive Management” allows Alaskan agents to kill any black bear, brown bear or wolf found on state land. In 2023, helicopters killed nearly 100 bears including 20 cubs.

The latest program allows aerial hunters to kill up to 80% of wolves, 80% black bears and 60% of brown bears.

A state report from October that looked at predator killing practices reached a different conclusion.

The report states that “the goal of the project is to increase the survival rate of caribou calves by removing bears and wolves.” There are no data to determine if the goal was met.

According to the report, “diseases, nutrition and winter severity” were the main factors that contributed to caribou herd decrease. Around 65% of the caribou died due to starvation or water dehydration.

The state, say critics, also admits that it does not know the full impact of the killings on brown bear populations as it did no estimate the number before it allowed the killings. In 2024, more than half the brown bears that were killed were female adult bears. This raises further concerns about the ability of the population to recover.

The state has refused to allow independent observers, photographs, or scientific review of the program.

This practice has also had negative consequences. The National Park Service ended a study that lasted more than 20 years on wolf behavior at the Yukon-Charley National Preserve because of the low resident wolf populations.

It has also reduced tourism because visitors are no longer able to see intact wolf packs in Denali National Park, which is one of Alaska’s most popular tourist attractions. Critics called the state’s hunting program “epitome pound-foolish”.

The amount of money that the state will earn from hunting fees is dwarfed by the amount of tourists who want to see these predators in their natural habitat, according to Tim Whitehouse, Peer’s executive director.