Defenders' Experts
Aerial Gunning
What Is Aerial Gunning?
Aerial gunning is a controversial practice whereby gunners use airplanes or helicopters to pursue an animal and then shoot it. The use of aircraft to harass or shoot animals from the air was made generally illegal, with a limited exception for legitimate wildlife management purposes, in 1971 when Congress passed the Airborne Hunting Act. But since then the practice has been resurrected in Alaska in order to suppress predator populations and artificially expand populations of moose and caribou, principally for the benefit of out-of-state sport hunters. Most recently, aerial gunning of wolves in Idaho has been proposed by state officials as a method of boosting populations of elk and other ungulate species, even on federal land such as the Clearwater National Forest.
Despite being labeled as sound wildlife management, Alaska’s predator control programs lack basic scientific information such as regional population censuses for the moose, caribou, wolf and bear populations. Wolf numbers are largely based on anecdotal information from hunters and commercial guides. In addition, the state largely relies on private hunters and private pilots to do the shooting, not Alaska Department of Fish and Game personnel. These individuals operate with little oversight and are allowed to keep the pelts as trophies or sell them for profit instead of turning them over to wildlife officials. Thus, Alaska’s aerial gunning program is really nothing more than a cleverly disguised sport hunt of wolves, not legitimate wildlife management.
The delicate balance between predator and prey is such that the removal of too many predators from wild lands can have devastating long-term effects on all wildlife and their habitat. Without being based on science, aerial gunning, and indeed all types of predator control, puts into jeopardy nature’s complex equilibrium.
Scientists and Wildlife Professionals
Scientists and wildlife professionals have repeatedly spoken out against the unscientific approach to wildlife management in Alaska.
In 2007, nearly 200 scientists and wildlife professionals signed a letter to then Alaska Governor Palin detailing their concerns over the lack of scientific justification for Alaska’s predator control programs. In their letter they highlighted the threats posed to ecological balance by the predator control programs.
Letter from scientists and wildlife professionals to Governor Palin. 
The American Society of Mammalogists, the world’s oldest and largest organization devoted to the study of mammals, also wrote to Governor Palin to express concern about the program.
Letter from the American Society of Mammalogists to Governor
Palin.
Governor Palin didn’t respond to either letter.
Read more about scientific opinions on Alaska's predator control program >>
Defenders' Position on Aerial Gunning
Defenders of Wildlife supports scientifically sound conservation and management of wildlife and advocates for policies that are in the best interests of all wildlife and supporting ecological systems. We do not oppose predator control or any other form of regulated take of wildlife programs that adheres to this standard. To that end, Defenders works hard to evaluate predator control programs on a case-by case basis.
Defenders' Work on Aerial Gunning
Defenders of Wildlife has been working on aerial gunning and predator control issues for decades. Our goal to have science be the guiding force throughout all wildlife management has never wavered.
Here are some highlights of Defenders’ work to end unscientific aerial gunning in Alaska:
- In the 1970’s Defenders litigated related issues.
- In 1993, Defenders petitioned Secretary of the Interior, Bruce Babbitt to issue emergency regulations under the federal Airborne Hunting Act (AHA) making it clear that the State of Alaska may not use fixed-wing or rotary aircraft to kill wolves on any lands in Alaska.
- In 1996, Alaska voters passed a state-wide ballot initiative to end the same-day aerial gunning of wolves - Defenders’ first successful backing of a predator control ballot initiative.
- Unfortunately, the state legislature overturned the 1996 ballot initiative less than three years after it passed.
- In 2000, Alaska voters passed another state-wide ballot initiative on this issue, this time restricting aerial gunning to Alaska Department of Fish and Game personnel only - Defenders’ second successful backing of a predator control ballot initiative.
- Again, the state legislature overturned the 2000 ballot initiative three years later.
- In March 2007, then-Governor Sarah Palin put a $150 bounty on Alaska’s wolves, collectable upon presentation of a dead wolf’s left foreleg. Defenders of Wildlife and other conservation groups file a legal request for a temporary restraining order to stop the illegal bounty payments. The request is granted and the restraining order is issued within the month.
- In July 2007, U.S. Representative George Miller, supported by Defenders, introduced the Protect America’s Wildlife (PAW) Act to Congress. The bill received wide support from other Members of Congress, along with a number of former Alaska Board of Game members. The legislation was re-introduced in 2009, this time in the Senate also by Sen. Dianne Feinstein.
- In March 2011, The US Fish and Wildlife Service announced its decision not to allow the State of Alaska to kill wolves on Unimak Island, a part of the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge. The decision was underpinned by sound science and came after more than 65,000 Defenders supporters wrote to USFWS urging them to let science guide their decision-making process.
- In 2011, Defenders released a comprehensive report on Alaska’s predator control programs—Managing for Abundance or Abundant Mismanagement? . The report includes a history of predator control in Alaska, starting from 1915 to present day.
