Defenders' Experts
Petitions to Interior Department to Protect Wolves Under the Federal Airborne Hunting Act
In February 2004, Defenders of Wildlife submitted a petition to Secretary of Interior Gale Norton requesting that she issue regulations clarifying that the Federal Airborne Hunting Act does not allow the use of aircraft to kill wolves for the purpose of boosting game populations.
The petition was generated in response to the issuance of permits in 2003 by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game to private hunters and trappers that would allow them to assist the Department in killing all of the wolves in a 1,700 square mile area of central interior Alaska by shooting them from airplanes in order to reduce predation on moose and 100 wolves in a second, larger area east of Anchorage through land and shoot hunting.
The Bush administration refused to issue clarifying regulations, which led to our second petition that was filed on July 30, 2004. To date, the Department of Interior has failed to respond to our petition.
The failure of the Bush administration to issue clarifying regulations to the Airborne Hunting act resulted in Defenders of Wildlife's to request Congress to address the issue. In response, Rep. George Miller of California’s 7th district introduced the Protect America’s Wildlife Act.
July 2004 Petition and Accompanying DocumentsPetition re: Enforcement of Airborne Hunting Act - July 2004 Exhibit A1 Exhibit A2 Exhibit B Exhibit C Exhibit D Exhibit E Exhibit F Exhibit G Exhibit H Exhibit I_1 Exhibit I_2 Exhibit J Exhibit K |
