Big deal.
AK F&G just killed about 100 in the Mulchatna caribou herd calving grounds.
The herd, once 200K strong, is down to 13K if I remember correctly from the article I read this morning. Closed to hunting for several years, now. Several factors at play- habitat, disease, predation. ( And probably more poaching by the natives than anyone is aware of - and they do know of some).
Predation is the only thing we can work with, so the Game Board authorized a cull of bears and wolves this year, during calving time to see if that will help calf survival.
100 is way more than they anticipated (when in doubt, keep shooting!
). Only about 5 were blacks. Some cubs were killed too - they wisely did not report how many. F&G thinks bears came in from surrounding areas for calving feasting, hence the high kill, but who knows? Bear populations are always way underestimated without a hair snag DNA study, lasting 3 years or more.
The preservationists of course have their panties so wadded up their eyes are bugged out. "They aren't following the science!!!"
Ain't no science to follow - that's why this experiment is being done. This IS the science! And will determine what happens in the future, to some extent. The meat was donated to anyone who would take it.
By my reckoning, that's at least 500 calves that will possibly live to 90 days, a not insignificant increase to the herd if they then make it through the winter.
Again IIRC (not going to look it up) the prior study indicated 90% of the predation there is by bears.
