Alaska wildlife agents can resume shooting and killing black and brown bears — including from helicopters — as part of a plan to help recover the Mulchatna caribou herd, a judge ruled Wednesday.
Two conservation groups, the Alaska Wildlife Alliance and the Center for Biological Diversity, had sought to halt the program while their lawsuit challenging its legality proceeds. Superior Court Judge Adolf Zeman said the groups failed to show the state acted without a reasonable basis in approving the plan.
The timing matters because the Mulchatna herd in southwest Alaska is expected to begin calving soon, leaving vulnerable calves susceptible to predation by bears and wolves. State officials say the bear-removal program is important to herd recovery. The herd once provided up to about 4,770 caribou a year for subsistence hunters from dozens of communities and peaked at roughly 190,000 animals. It began declining in the late 1990s and early 2000s and was estimated at about 13,000 in 2019; last year the state estimated roughly 16,280. Hunting has been closed since 2021.
Conservation groups say the state killed 180 bears from 2023 to 2024, mostly brown bears, plus 11 more last year. The Alaska Wildlife Alliance reported that 99 bears, including 20 cubs, were killed from the air in under a month in 2023. The groups argue the Alaska Board of Game reinstated the program without sufficient data on bear population numbers and sustainability.
Cooper Freeman, Alaska director at the Center for Biological Diversity, said the groups want the caribou herd to thrive but contend the state “hasn’t shown that the unrestrained killing of bears is going to help us get there,” and called for management based on science to protect all wildlife.
State attorneys counter that officials took a “hard look” at bear numbers in adopting the plan. Alaska is home to an estimated 100,000 black bears and 30,000 brown bears, the state notes. In a court filing, they said the herd “has persisted at low numbers but started showing a positive response since 2023, when bear removal during calving seasons began.”
The Alaska Department of Law, which represents the Board of Game and the Department of Fish and Game, said the ruling allows the management program to continue during the crucial calving season and that continuing it “makes sense in light of the scientific record,” spokesperson Sam Curtis said.
Attorneys with Trustees for Alaska, representing the conservation groups, said they are reviewing the ruling and “will consider all available options,” spokesperson Madison Grosvenor said.
The program has faced ongoing litigation. A judge last year found fault with how emergency regulations were adopted and concluded the state lacked data on bear sustainability; those emergency regulations were later struck down. The Board of Game reauthorized the program in July after a subsequent public process.
The Alaska Wildlife Alliance points to a 2020 assessment by state biologists identifying disease and lack of food as the main reasons for the Mulchatna herd’s decline and saying bear predation was not among the top three causes. The alliance also warns that big-game management risks being driven by public demand rather than habitat capacity, potentially promoting unsustainable policies.