Alaska fights to keep wolf program

ANCHORAGE, Alaska, Jan. 31 (UPI) -- Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is supporting state legislation to end lawsuits by groups opposed to the shooting wolves from planes.

Supporters said the bill would simplify the language in Alaska's predator control laws, aimed at boosting moose and caribou populations for hunters. Critics such as the conservation group Defenders of Wildlife said the legislation would allow predator-control expansion across the state, the Anchorage Daily News said Wednesday.

"It gives carte blanche for the Board of Game to move ahead based on a hunch," Tom Banks of Defenders of Wildlife told the newspaper. "Based on a belief, really, that killing wolves in a particular area would be helpful."

The aerial predator control program has resulted in the death of more than 700 wolves in the program's five years. While it is mostly aimed at wolves, it has also included bears, the newspaper said.