Alaskan Fight Brewing Over River Bears

[jpak]

http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/nat-gen/2007/feb/12/021205271.html

A fight is brewing over hunting of the famous McNeil River bears, known for offering humans the world's best glimpse of life in the wild as they feast on salmon and fatten up for the long Alaska winter.

While the McNeil River State Game Sanctuary is off-limits to hunters, the Alaska Board of Game wants to allow hunting on 95,000 nearby acres the bears also use, outraging supporters who consider them far too familiar with humans to be fair game.

"Those bears are world famous. Their numbers appear to be in decline," said Dave Bachrach, a bear viewing guide. "Until they know why, how can we open the back door and allow hunters in to kill some more?"

The game board, appointed by pro-hunting former Gov. Frank Murkowski, said it was acting at the behest of hunters in the village of Naknek about 100 miles away when it decided to clear the way for a fall hunt on state land near the sanctuary.

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[acmavm]

1. Alaska gets a lot of money in hunting license revenue

for the game that they allow barbaric SOBs to go up there and kill. The rates are different for each type of animal. The big horn sheep and polar bears cost the most to kill. Moose are pretty run-of-the-mill.