Bad News for Bears.

BEAR hunting; ANIMAL sanctuaries; HUNTING; BEARS; ANIMAL tagging; GOVERNMENT policy

KAMISHAK Bay (Alaska); ALASKAReport Available

The article comments on the threat over bears in the McNeil River State Game Sanctuary in Alaska in 2007. The Alaska Board of Game has voted to allow hunting in the Kamishak Special Use Area, adjacent to the sanctuary to the east and south. Both before and after the salmon return to McNeil River, the bears fan out throughout the region, often far beyond the sanctuary. Tagging and radio-collar studies in this area have shown that some bears travel hundreds of miles in a year and that many McNeil bears venture into the Kamishak Special Use Area. So if open hunting there remains legal, it is only a matter of time before hunters kill some of the most tolerant and approachable bears.