Judge Orders State To Pay More Than Half A Million Dollars In Bear Removal Program Suit

More fallout from the State of Alaska’s controversial plans to eliminate predators in the name of protecting the state’s dwindling caribou herds. In this instance, the state must pay more than half a million dollars to plaintiffs in a case that challenged the removal of bears in Southwest Alaska with the intent of helping improve Mulchatna Caribou Herd numbers. Some details from the Anchorage Daily News:

A judge has ordered the state of Alaska to pay $513,300 to plaintiffs in a lawsuit challenging a controversial Department of Fish and Game program targeting bears in Southwest Alaska. 

It follows a separate decision from December regarding a different predator control program aimed at culling wolves on the southern Kenai Peninsula, which led to a $115,220 judgment against the state. 

The latest ruling came from Anchorage Superior Court Judge Christina Rankin on Dec. 31 and concerns a lawsuit that goes back to 2023, when the Alaska Wildlife Alliance sued the state Department of Fish and Game. At the heart of the suit was an allegation from the conservation group that the state and Board of Game violated public notice rules when they hastily approved a new measure allowing wildlife managers to shoot bears from aircraft in an effort to revive the flagging Mulchatna caribou herd.