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to the BOG calling for common sense trapping restrictions went ignored, and Alaska’s one restriction on trappers was revoked.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.

President Trump as he visits Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi, Thursday, May, 15, 2025. During the first major foreign trip of his second term, President Trump has told audiences in the Middle East that he’s willing to set the past aside in the interests of peace and profit. (Doug Mills/The New York Times)
Opinion: Count on Sullivan to erase another red line

“If you want President Trump to succeed, this kind of skeezy stuff… Continue reading

Michelle Bonnet Hale is a former deputy mayor of Juneau. (Clarise Larson / Juneau Empire file photo)
My Turn: Sen. Sullivan and Rep. Begich are complicit in destruction of US democracy

I have found myself struggling, these past few months, to find the… Continue reading

(Juneau Empire file photo)
Letter: Demolishing Telephone Hill won’t save downtown businesses

In a recent front-page article of the Juneau Empire was a demolition… Continue reading

Dick Maitland, a foley artist, works on the 46th season of “Sesame Street” at Kaufman Astoria Studios in New York, Dec. 15, 2025. (Ariana McLaughlin/The New York Times)
Opinion: Trump’s embarrassing immaturity Republicans won’t acknowledge

It was only a matter of time before President Donald Trump took… Continue reading

An architect’s rendering of the proposed Capital Civic Center. (NorthWind Architects and Jensen Yorba Wall)
My Turn: Capital Civic Center will be an economic driver for Juneau

At the urging of the mayor, Travel Juneau, the Juneau Chamber of… Continue reading

(Michael Penn / Juneau Empire file photo)
My Turn: Clean up the Tulsequah Chief Mine

The Tulsequah Chief mine in northwest British Columbia, about 30 miles upstream… Continue reading

Republican U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan, standing with Alaska Public Media President Ed Ulman, at left, accepted a “champion of public broadcasting” award in 2020 from a coalition of public television stations. Amid efforts to strip federal funding of public media, Sullivan calls NPR “overly partisan” but says he “understands that Alaska’s public radio stations are essential to our state.” (Photo courtesy of America’s Public Television Stations)
Public media is in the crosshairs. How will Alaska’s congressional delegation vote?

Should public media be spared the budget cutting axe of President Donald… Continue reading

(Juneau Empire file photo)
Letter: Some fiscal realities should be self-evident

Dear Alaska legislators: Our need for an educated, rationally informed voting majority… Continue reading

(Juneau Empire file photo)
Letter: SAVE Act would impose unreasonable barriers for people registering to vote

Retaining representative democracy requires due diligence and informed votes from all citizens… Continue reading

(Juneau Empire file photo)
Letter: Keep pressure up on Sen. Sullivan

On national news, Sen. Murkowski said that people should continue contacting their… Continue reading