As Yellowstone welcomes wolf cubs in an earlier Western Exposure post, the battle over Alaskan aerial hunting of wolves continues in Congress, reports Eriak Bolstad of the Anchorage Daily News. Aerial hunting is used to control wolf populations on non-federal lands to aid recovery of struggling caribou and moose populations. New legislation by two California Democrats would restrict shooting to situations where other species faced imminent extinction, and the hunts could only be carried out by federal and state wildlife agency employees. Those who favor the proposal say shooting wolves from airplanes is inhumane and moose should be treated like wildlife rather than livestock. Opponents say altering the program would threaten subsistence hunters who rely on moose to survive.
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