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Hi John,
Brown bears and black bears in southwest Alaska are still emerging from their winter dens.
But state game agents are taking advantage of this vulnerable period to gun down as many mothers, cubs, and breeding-age adults as they can find from helicopters across 40,000 square miles.
The rampage could start this week, and here at the Center for Biological Diversity we’re doing all we can to stop it.
Please make a gift to the Future for the Wild Fund to help us fight to keep more bears from being killed.
Female black bears and brown bears are roaming with dependent cubs by their side — cubs who may need to stay with them from for over a year. Brown bears are also entering mating season, a critical window for a species that reproduces slowly, with females typically breeding only every four to five years.
Killing bears now could orphan cubs and compound losses that are already mounting.
Yet trigger-happy officials have allowed at least 186 brown bears and five black bears to be killed under Alaska’s brutal predator-control program since 2023, including dozens of cubs.
The state claims it’s to boost a struggling caribou herd, despite no scientific evidence that shows killing bears will help.
On Friday our emergency case to stop this spring’s slaughter was heard in Alaska Superior Court. Even if it's not immediately halted by the court, our broader lawsuit will continue to challenge this unlawful program.
But this threat isn't the only one.
Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s administration, backed by Trump’s anti-wildlife agenda, continues pushing policies that treat bears, wolves, and other native carnivores as obstacles to be removed in service of sport hunting.
At the same time, federal actions have moved to open vast areas of Alaska to industrial development that will destroy polar bear habitat and ruin some of the last intact natural landscapes on Earth.
The pressure on Alaska’s wildlife is mounting from every direction, but the Center will keep fighting to defend these animals and the wild places they need to survive.
Because attacks like this won't stop, please consider making a monthly gift to sustain our legal defense for the long haul.
For the wild,
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