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March 25, 2001 from the Alaska Wildlife Alliance
ACTION ALERT-  HELP SAVE DENALI NATIONAL PARK'S WOLVES!
We need your help to put a stop to the destruction of Denali National Park's Toklat and Sanctuary wolves. Please contact the National Park Service using the information below, and demand that they do all they can to help protect these world-famous wolves from extinction. The Toklat and Sanctuary wolves are the most viewed, most photographed, most famous group of wolves in the world.

This week, three of Denali's wolves were killed after being drugged for radio collaring by Park Service researchers. The alpha female of the Sanctuary pack, along with the alpha male of the Toklat wolves, failed to recover from what appears to be an overdose of the drug used in darting them. A pup from the Otter Creek pack was also killed. And the tragedy doesn't end here.

The Sanctuary alpha female was the only remaining adult member of the pack,after her mate died of natural causes earlier this year. Poor judgment on the part of the Park Service to dart her now means that a single 10-month old pup may be all that remains of this family, whose other pups have disappeared in a heavily trapped area. There was also gross negligence exercised by Park researchers when they not only killed the Toklat alpha male, but darted and collared his pregnant female who may abort her unborn pups from the affects of the drug.

The Alaska Wildlife Alliance has been granted permission by the National Park Service to arrange for food drops from a Cessna for the surviving Sanctuary pup until it becomes apparent he can survive on his own. He is now the only chance left for continuing the Sanctuary lineage. Dr. Gordon Haber, an independent wildlife scientist who has been researching Denali's wolves for 35 years, will be conducting the food drop-offs.

Surviving these losses isn't the only threat facing the surviving members of the Toklat and Sanctuary wolves. On the state lands bordering the Park, wolf killers have their traps set until trapping season ends April 30th, including a man who operates a popular lodge for visitors coming to see Denali's wildlife, and another who works for the National Park Service.  Both are legally allowed to trap these wolves with an Alaskan trapping license.

For almost a decade, the Alliance has requested protection for the Toklat and Sanctuary wolves by proposing a no hunting and trapping zone in the territories they occupy. The recent approval by Alaska's Board of Game of a mere 19 of the 650 square miles needed for protection amounted to "tokenism" for these two packs and is grossly ineffective in protecting them.  Please help by contacting the National Park Service with the following:

* Tell them that these killings are inexcusable, and new procedures that include follow-up care on darted animals be put into place BEFORE any further radio collaring!
* Demand that all trapping by Park Service employees, regardless of whether or not it is legal on state lands, is unacceptable and should cease immediately and forever! * Remind them that as stewards of our precious natural resources, and in light of this recent mishandling, its time the National Park Service champion the Toklat and Sanctuary wolves, and assume a leadership role in seeking protection for them!

* Get them to urge the Alaska Department of Fish and Game to call an immediate emergency closure of ALL hunting and trapping in both the Sanctuary and Toklat wolf territories. These wolves cannot afford any more losses at the hands of humans!

* Express your appreciation for allowing the Alaska Wildlife Alliance to help the orphaned Sanctuary wolf pup!

CONTACT:
Robert Arnberger, Alaska Regional Director
National Park Service
2525 Gambell Street
Anchorage, AK 99503
Phone: 907-257-2690           Fax: 907-257-2533

We would also appreciate your support for our fight to permanently ban all trapping and hunting of the Toklat and Sanctuary wolves. Please send your support to the Alaska Wildlife Alliance, P.O. Box 202022, Anchorage, Alaska. For more information on the Toklat wolves of Denali, visit our website at www.akwildlife.org
<http://www.akwildlife.org> .

Thank you. We must put a stop to these atrocities against what are considered by thousands as national gems - Denali's wolves. Please write today, and send this message along to your friends and family members. The Sanctuary and Toklat wolves are depending on you.

The Alaska Wildlife Alliance
P.O. Box 202022
Anchorage, AK 99520
(907) 277-0897     (907) 277-7423 Fax
www.akwildlife.org <http://www.akwildlife.org>
email: awa@alaska.net <mailto:awa@alaska.net>

The presence of the wolf adds immeasurable richness and a wilderness spirit
to the landscape. One need not see a wolf to benefit from his presence; it
is enough to know that there is the possibility of discovering one on some
distant ridge .... Adolph Murie, 1961


March 22, 2001
More than 500 North American scientists have signed a letter to President Bush asking him not to permit drilling in the Arctic NWR.  "...we urge you to support permanent protection of the coastal plain's significant wildlife and wilderness values," the letter said.  It cited dangers to the region's polar bears, caribou, musk oxen, and snow geese among other species and warned of disrupting the coastal plain's fragile ecosystem.

The Bush administration is predicting a serious energy crisis on the basis of California's present difficulties  which can be alleviated by less wasteful consumption in the short run and by improved efficiency and renewable energy sources in the future.  Ironically, California generates only 1% of its electricity from oil, and it would 10 years or so before the oil flowed south into US refineries -- if indeed oil were found to be recoverable under the refuge.  In any case, the US Geological Survey estimates that only 3.2 billion barrels would be economically recoverable compared to the 16 billion barrels touted by the drilling promoters.  No matter how much oil might be recovered, it would only be a temporary stop gap to a problem we should have faced 30 years ago.  Oil supplies are finite and we have to develop other means of generating energy as well as using it more efficiently. 

Millions of dollars are being spent on ads and lobbying Congress in favor of drilling in the refuge.  People who are opposed to it must speak up if the refuge is not to become poisoned with drilling wastes and riddled with roads.  Have you written to your Congressperson and Senators about this issue? 

March 20, 2001
Orang-utans  on the way extinction if illegal logging is not halted in
Indonesia.  A study fostered by the Wildlife Conservation Society predicted the species would be extinct in the wild within 10 years if logging is not controlled.  Political turmoil has left the loggers in control of their industry and money takes precedence even over national parks.  The orang-utan population has dropped from 50,000 to 25,000 within the past decade, due to devastating fires and illegal killing as well as logging.

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