My Turn: Alaska Board of Game needs diversity

  • By MICHELLE ANDERSON
  • Tuesday, March 29, 2016 1:00am
  • Opinion

The Alaska Board of Game (BOG), a seven-member panel of unelected, governor-appointed officials, decides important wildlife issues on behalf of Alaskans. Because the makeup of the BOG is entirely dominated by hunters and trappers, this body frequently renders decisions with little scientific merit and certainly not in line with the public’s values for conservation or humane treatment of wildlife. As an example, this week the BOG unanimously voted to remove the one and only requirement that trappers have in Alaska: Those who trap in the southeastern part of the state no longer need to put their identities on a tag affixed to their traps or posted on a sign within 50 yards of each trap. Caving into this tiny minority special interest group harms Alaska’s wildlife and puts people and family pets into mortal danger.

The fox guards the hen house. Two of the members of the BOG, the chairman and vice chairman, both belong to the Alaska Trappers Association. This conflict of interest explains why recent citizen petitions to the BOG calling for common sense trapping restrictions went ignored, and Alaska’s one restriction on trappers was revoked. Before this week’s hearing, my colleagues and I petitioned the BOG and requested that it require that trappers check traps every 24 hours, and that dangerous traps and snares not be permitted near population centers.

While most states require that trappers check their trap every 24 hours, in our state there is no mandatory trap check time. This means that trappers can leave animals to suffer in traps for days or even weeks until they are dead. Traps and snares are not benign devices; they are cruel and according to recent statewide poll of Alaska voters, most people oppose them by a two to one margin (http://m.humanesociety.org/news/press_releases/2016/03/alaska-nwr-cruel-practices-030116.html).

As a veterinary professional for over 20 years, I personally could not support any length of time for an animal to suffer in a trap or snare. Leg-hold traps use brute force to slam shut on the limb or paw of an animal and keep it there until the trapper returns. Trapped animals violently try to escape and sustain serious injuries such as broken limbs and broken teeth; dislocated shoulders; lacerations; fractures; amputation of digits, paws, or whole legs; physiological stress and or pain; dehydration; starvation and exposure. Animals could be stuck languishing in pain for days or weeks and exposed to extreme weather until the trapper returns to shoot the animal at point-blank range. Even more cruelly, wire snares grab limbs, paws, or even the neck of animal and tighten as the animal fights the device.

Also, these devices are inherently indiscriminate, catching federally-protected bald eagles and the like. To add insult to injury, trappers are not required to report to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game any non-target animals they capture, except for moose, caribou and the like, perhaps resulting in the trapping of hundreds if not thousands of non-target animals each year.

Ethical hunters use “fair chase” principles to guide their sport, including having the goal of gaining a clean kill shot so the animal does not suffer. Ethical hunters end suffering in a timely manner. Trappers hold no similar ethical standard. Literally in trappers’ grips, animals are left in fear and pain sometimes for a week or longer in Alaska.

In Alaska, traps are allowed near schools, homes, businesses, campgrounds and trails. As a result, many Alaskans and visitors have suffered when their pets are injured or killed by traps and snares. Alaska’s lack of trapping regulations is an unacceptable situation in the eyes of the majority of us. Alaska’s lack of regulation is a travesty that harms people, pets and wildlife.

Because the governor appoints BOG members, he can do something. Sadly, no “non-consumptive” user, that is the majority of us — the wildlife watchers, the hikers, the kayakers, the conservationists and the humanitarians are not represented at all — even as a state statute requires that members hold a “diversity” of “interests” and “viewpoints”. Alaskans deserve a more diverse membership on the BOG and one that is truly representative of the diversity of state residents because the regulations coming from this body are dangerous and wrongheaded.

• Michelle Anderson lives in Juneau.

More in Opinion

Web
Have something to say?

Here’s how to add your voice to the conversation.

Former Juneau Mayor Ken Koelsch in 2018. (Michael Penn / Juneau Empire file photo)
My Turn: Assembly needs to retreat

We might not be privy to what the Assembly’s agenda is, but… Continue reading

The Stikine River Flats area in the Tongass National Forest is viewed from a helicopter on July 19, 2021. The Stikine River flows from British Columbia to Southeast Alaska. It is one of the major transboundary rivers impacted by mines in British Columbia. (Photo by Alicia Stearns/U.S. Forest Service)
Opinion: Facing transboundary mining, Alaskans shouldn’t buy industry rhetoric

“Rest assured,” writes Michael Goehring, president of the British Columbia Mining Association,… Continue reading

(Juneau Empire File)
Letter: Attorney general’s letter to libraries are an abuse of office

Earlier this month Treg Taylor, Alaska’s attorney general, published a letter to… Continue reading

An aging outhouse overlooks Tenakee Inlet. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire File)
My Turn: Murkowski’s bill will dramatically change map of public land in Southeast Alaska

There has been very little reporting on federal legislation that would greatly… Continue reading

(Photo courtesy of the City and Borough of Juneau)
Opinion: Choosing a seat at the table

To advocates for limiting cruise ship tourism and combatting climate change, partnering… Continue reading

A photo of Juneau featured on the front cover of this year’s annual “Economic Indicators and Outlook” by the Juneau Economic Development Council. (Juneau Economic Development Council)
Opinion: Troubling trends deserve Assembly attention

The economic indicators report published last month by the Juneau Economic Development… Continue reading

Passengers return to the Norwegian Sun on Oct. 25, the final day of this year’s cruise ship season in Juneau. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire File)
My Turn: “Partnering” with cruise ship industry isn’t in Juneau’s interests

Regarding Jim Powell’s lecture at the Evening at Egan event on Friday,… Continue reading

Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., questions Navy Adm. Lisa Franchetti during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on Sept. 14 on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
Opinion: Music to the ears of America’s adversaries

Two weeks ago, U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan made a commendable effort to… Continue reading

Fog drifts through the trees in the Tongass National Forest on Monday, Dec. 9, 2019. (Michael Penn | Juneau Empire File)
My Turn: A response to ‘There are no Landless Natives in Southeast Alaska’

Where to begin? Rebecca Knight’s — at best implicitly xenophobic and factually… Continue reading

(Juneau Empire File)
Letter: Thankful to see the construction by local Native organiztions

Sitting in my living room listening to nails pounding into the old… Continue reading

Alaska Permanent Fund Corp. board members, staff and advisors meet Oct. 30 at the corporation’s headquarters in Juneau to discuss a proposal to raise the fund’s rate of return by making riskier investments. The idea stalled when advisors suggested the strategy and timing are ill-advised. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire File).
My Turn: Need for accounting and legislative oversight of the Permanent Fund

The governor or Legislature or both need to conduct an audit format… Continue reading