Predators aren’t saints or ‘gang thugs of the forests and tundra’

To the editor:

Mike Robinson’s recent letter “Bears aren’t people, wolves aren’t loving” touched on some topics that need to be part of any debate on potential predator control initiatives, most specifically the dangers of people anthropomorphizing animals. While the letter was directed at distant and theoretical urban dwellers who imagine nature as an idealized cartoon free of pain and suffering, the writer engages in the very same actions he derided. Namely, applying the moral expectations of humans living with all the modern conveniences to wild animals.

Bears and wolves are neither saints nor “gang thugs of the forests and tundra.” They live to eat, and by eating they sustain their own species — just as humans, moose and every other animal on earth does. Perhaps they can be wasteful with their kills at times, but I sincerely doubt that marauding bands of predators are depleting our game populations. The fact is that moose, caribou, wolves and bears have coexisted in Alaska far longer than even the earliest native settlers, their populations intertwined and fluctuating in response to one another. What has changed are humans themselves.

We have now developed large swaths of the Matanuska Valley pushed farther into these animals’ natural ranges, and our own population (and demand for game) has skyrocketed. So when we talk of predator control, realize that we are not trying to keep some new band of bloodthirsty animals in check for altruistic reasons, we are removing our own competitors in order to provide more for our human community. Whether this is right or wrong is up to debate, but it should be debated on honest terms with a real understanding of the consequences.

One final observation; this weekend while skiing with my partner in Archangel Valley we came across an agitated, probably starving moose resting in the middle of the trail, which we gave wide berth to and continued on our way. Coming back, several other skiers and snowmachiners warned us about the moose and we went out of our way again to avoid the animal.

Soon after, we turned around at the sound of approaching snowmachines to see a panicked moose being driven by six or seven riders straight into us.

The riders didn’t stop, they didn’t slow down, they didn’t even attempt to leave the main trail for the open meadows right next to them. They ran the creature directly at us, revving their engines. While we made it off the trail in time and the riders eventually went around the moose, several lives were put in danger and a weak animal was run to exhaustion. And the worst part of it all — the perpetrators acted out of impatience and the desire for a cheap thrill.

Nick Schlosstein

Palmer