Numbers can be deceiving.
Not too long ago we read that the aerial hunting program had saved around 1,300 moose. But did it really? How many of those "saved" moose were on their last legs as it was? (We've also recently read of several moose wandering into yards in Anchorage and Fairbanks, then dying, certainly not from predation.)
How many of those "saved" moose are no longer able to breed but still compete with the breeding moose and their calves for limited forage? How many of those "saved" moose are carrying contagious diseases or are so ill from arthritis and other ailments as to be walking dead?
The numbers need to be more closely examined and with a skeptical eye for they do not tell the entire story. Indeed, that seems to be the problem with the entire program. It tells only what the pro-aerial-hunting faction wants heard and leaves out vital information to which Alaskans should be privy.
Next time you encounter such a bit of information from Palin's aerial hunting education program, think about it carefully and wonder what you aren't being told and why.
-- Art Greenwalt
Fairbanks
The writer is a board member of Alaska Wildlife Alliance. |
