These rare Alaskan wolves need our help

It starts with a snap.

From the moment the trap clamps on his leg, the wolf’s fate has been sealed. What comes next are hours, maybe days, of pain and panic, ending with a bullet or club to the head.

Over 31 days, an estimated 74 wolves will meet this cruel end as the Alaska Department of Fish and Game opens its annual wolf-trapping season on Alaska’s Prince of Wales Island.

Alaska’s Tongass National Forest is home to a rare subspecies of wolves

The wolves that call this island home are members of a rare subspecies called the Alexander Archipelago gray wolf. Smaller than other gray wolves, these unique creatures are mostly confined to the southeastern tip of Alaska, living among the massive old-growth trees of the Tongass National Forest.

While all Alexander Archipelago wolves are at risk due to habitat loss, inbreeding, and over-hunting, the wolves of Prince of Wales Island are especially vulnerable, as they are still recovering from a previous hunt.

During the Island’s 2019-2020 trapping season, trappers killed 165 wolves — an estimated 97% of the island’s population.

The wolves of Prince of Wales Island shouldn’t have their lives threatened annually with hunting seasons.

An estimated 97% of the wolves on this island were killed

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game could have banned the wolf hunts altogether, allowing the population to heal after this devastating blow, but instead they merely shortened the season to 31 days. This is still plenty of time for slaughter — 70 wolves were killed on the island last season: that’s more than two wolves killed, each and every day, while the season is open.

While we seek to ban all forms of wolf hunting, the trapping used predominantly on Prince of Wales Island is especially cruel. Some wolves caught in neck snares slowly suffocate, while others are forced to wait in agony for the arrival of their killers after their limbs become trapped.

Tell the Alaska Department of Fish and Game: Save the wolves of Prince of Wales Island today.