I wholeheartedly agree with Bill Watkins that Alaska and not the federal government is overreaching on game management. I have been an Alaska resident since 1979. I am an avid runner, hiker, skier, cyclist and outdoor enthusiast. When I am outdoors, one of my greatest joys is seeing wildlife. I love encountering moose, bears, porcupines, lynx, Cook Inlet beluga whales and other animals.
One of the most majestic creatures I have ever seen is a wolf on the tundra when I was flying in a small plane from Western Alaska back to Anchorage. Words cannot describe the vision of this wolf forever etched in my memory. Despite my time spent outdoors, all over Alaska, this is the only wolf I have ever seen. Meanwhile, during a recent visit to a store in Anchorage, I saw hundreds of wolf, fox and ermine pelts hanging in the back with price tags of only a few hundred dollars each. One person killed each of those animals, depriving hundreds if not thousands of people of the opportunity and joy of seeing those animals in the wild.
Oil and gas production is declining in Alaska. The future of Alaska is tourism and people who visit to see animals in the wild. I see and visit with some of these people almost every day in the summer, when I cycle from my house downtown to Kincaid Park and back. These visitors from all over the world spend 30 minutes to an hour or more just watching a moose eating leaves off a tree.
What we have here in Alaska is unique in the world. It’s time for Alaska and federal law to reflect the interests and morals of the vast majority of people who want to view and preserve wildlife in the wild and not the minority of people who want to kill these animals. Do we really want to rest of the animals in Alaska to meet the fate of the Cook Inlet beluga whales, which have been hunted to the brink of extinction?
— Michelle Stone Bittner
Anchorage
Have something on your mind? Send to letters@adn.com or click here to submit via any web browser. Letters under 200 words have the best chance of being published. Writers should disclose any personal or professional connections with the subjects of their letters. Letters are edited for accuracy, clarity and length.