Anchorage Daily News

Questions outnumber answers

If Jeff King can find his way to Nome, how can he not know where the boundary of Denali National Park is?

And for the person concerned about 40 caribou killed and wasted, what about the herd of several hundred reindeer that were slaughtered on Hagemeister Island several years back -- what do you call that? That herd was our food source for the community.

-- Moses Kritz

Togiak

Hussein provoked attack on Iraq

In his letter published on Aug. 22, Geoff Kennedy wrote: "the Bush administration attacked and occupied Iraq without any provocation." Let me remind him: Hussein continued to refuse to abide by the cease-fire that ended his vicious foray into Kuwait. And, perhaps more importantly, his military fired missiles daily on our planes patrolling the northern and southern no-fly zones established in that cease-fire. This, by itself, was justification for removing Hussein. Would Mr. Kennedy have preferred that the president wait until the Iraqis got a luck shot and killed one of our pilots?

-- Rodger Flint

Anchorage

Fish and Game is doing lousy job managing the state's wildlife

The state's brochure to "educate" voters about predator control declares wild animals are "important food sources for Alaskans." The brochure claims that "the Intensive Management Law" -- a loony notion that nature can be legislatively mandated to pump out enough moose and caribou to feed all Alaskans -- "directs ADF&G to undertake predator control."

But not even Bush Alaskans can "live off the land" anymore ("Fuel costs spur migration from Bush," Gregg Erickson, Aug. 10). It's all about the money being made by the recreational, motorized, wildlife-killing industries. Alaska's dwindling wildlife is a political subsidy that mostly feeds recreational hunting fantasies.

The state claims to respond appropriately if "hunting pressure" causes wildlife declines. Yet hunting and trapping continue unabated in the hunted-out, trapped-out wildlife death zones of Hatcher Pass. State biologists always claimed there were "too many moose ... too many cows ... too many moose per square mile." Now there is hardly any wildlife at all.

In Alaska, wild animals are "hunted" and "managed" the same way -- with guns and motors. The "ADF&G biologists" who approved killing all the moose now approve killing wolves from aircraft. Thousands of gallons of aviation fuel are being burned to blast wolves from the air so potbellied guys can be hauled into the wilderness like sacks of Mat-Valley potatoes, play pioneer-subsistence hunters, and then motor back to their comfy, Lower 48 lifestyles.

-- Rudy Wittshirk

Willow

Fish and Game should ticket people who ignored bear warning

Thursday, the sow killed by Fish and Game was cleared by DNA testing. Is it now the policy of Fish and Game to kill all the "suspect" bears because they happened to be in the area when the maulings occurred? Sounds like the logic that to prevent forest fires we should cut down all the trees. While one orphaned cub is in custody, the other is at large soon to starve or be eaten by an adult bear.

All of this mess could have been avoided if Fish and Game had anticipated the need for better bear management because our population has increased and the likelihood that people lacking good judgement ran or cycled in known bear areas. If the trails had been closed after the first mauling, that may have been the end of it.

As for the three "scofflaws" photographed ignoring the trail closure signs, it is Fish and Game's responsibility to identify and prosecute them. If they endanger themselves and others, they should be considered criminals.

-- Susan Valenti

Anchorage

Don't let fear dictate bear policy

So let's see, we killed the wrong bear and orphaned two cubs. ... does this mean we will keep killing every bear we come across that has cubs till we get it right? DNA cleared the sow of the attack on Petra. I understand that people are afraid, but fear makes for poor decision making. Lets not decimate the bear population out of some politically motivated effort to quell that fear.

-- Carol Thomas

Anchorage

Just allow the wolves to live

What is the purpose of slaughtering wolves?

The animal chain of life is set up the way it was intended to be, from the beginning of time. When will mankind stop interfering with nature?

Beautiful Alaska is the "Wild State." I thought that you Alaska would protect your wildlife. Please step forward and protect the wolves.

They are their own society, forming their pack, setting up rules, taking a mate for life. Every wolf knows their place in the pack.

Please help save these beautiful animals from senseless death! Look into their eyes, see their beauty, the cousin to your very own personal pet, the dog: Allow the wolf to live!

Look into your heart and soul and please save the wolves. In doing so, you will be saving a piece of your soul.

-- Robyn Renee'

Sun City, Calif.

Stop delaying Bonnie Craig case

I cannot believe the murder case of Bonnie Craig, who was killed 14 years ago, is being delayed again. That poor family. Why do the rights of the accused count more than the rights of the victims and their families? They have been to hearing after hearing, postponing there lives and traveling from all over to get to the courthouse only to have a few no-shows and delay after delay. Let's help this family come to some kind of peace and let the delays stop!

-- Denise Maurice

Anchorage

Our grandchildren will pay dearly for destruction caused by Bush

While the all-encompassing destruction George Bush has inflicted on the world is acknowledged, his degrading of the American character rarely is considered.

Bombarded with lies and deliberately-roused fear, our moral compass broke and we jettisoned our ideals to attain "safety." This has permitted terrible crimes. Bush suspects "WMD" and hocus-pocus; we have license to invade, kill, maim and torture without remorse. We worry more about gas in the tank than about mothers we've blinded. Our leader cites Jesus repeatedly, but overrides his message with an unconscionable, ungodly display of "might makes right."

Shamefully, we've countenanced all this, but it's America's grandchildren who will pay hideously for our post 9/11 behavior, for all the recklessly-spent lives and money and the abandonment of our better selves. Despite Bush and McCain's protestations, we aren't even "winning" anything, just prolonging a ghastly mistake to try to save face.

Cleaning up after The Decider will be a Herculean task, certainly too much for a 72-year-old candidate whose energy and mental acuteness inevitably are declining. But it's our chance to reject America's arrogant push for world domination as a vain, immoral, bank-breaking venture to put our own house in order, and then work with others to save life on this planet. We also might avoid the contempt of those grandchildren.

-- Elizabeth Annis

Sitka

There's a lot of misinformation regarding dog bites and children

There have been unfortunate events recently between dogs and children, leading some people to blame a type or breed of dog for these tragedies. While it is important to look at the risk of dog bites from any type of dog, I find there is a lot of misinformation in the general public.

By managing children and dogs for the safety of each we can avoid many of these occurrences. Experts in animal care agree that spaying and neutering your pets is the number one way to prevent bites. (The fatal attack occurred in a house with three unaltered animals). Never leaving children and animals unsupervised is a basic precaution. Also, a chained dog is 2.5 times more likely to bite, so consider different ways of containment such as a fence.

The American Temperament Society, an organization founded in 1977, tests many different breed of dogs in confrontational situations to evaluate behavior. As of 2007 -- the most recent testing -- American pit bull terriers passed the temperament test 84.3 percent of the time, compared with golden retrievers (84.2 percent) and beagles (80.3 percent). I urge everyone and anyone to examine the results of the temperament tests closer at www.ATTS.org. Please blame the deed, not the breed!

-- Metis Riley

Anchorage

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