Frontier “Justice”

In the fall of 1997, to demonstrate the abusive, inhumane and illegal methods in which animals are being trapped, Alaska wildlife biologist Gordon Haber released a video of a two-year old black wolf in a snare on a site that was covered with the carcasses of at least four dead caribou. Haber who is an outspoken opponent of current trapping methods and is a leading advocate for wolf protection has studied wolves in Alaska for 35 years.

The wolf in question had been trapped at the carcass-covered snare site for at least three days when Haber discovered the animal still alive. Before releasing the wolf, Haber contacted officials from the National Park Service and the Alaska Department of Fish and Game for help in caring for the injured wolf, but no one came to the site. He decided to release the wolf instead of allowing him to languish longer. Sadly, the wolf died of blood loss three weeks later when state and federal wildlife biologists botched an attempt to amputate the injured leg in the field with nothing but a Swiss army knife.

Following the incident, Alaska State Troopers investigated Haber, trapper Eugene Johnson and state and federal game officials for various crimes and for possible charges. In the end, despite comments by the state prosecutor who said that “an appearance of wrongdoing cuts across the board, no charges will be pressed.”

However, after being spared legal action by the State of Alaska for maintaining an illegal trapping site, Johnson filed civil charges against Haber. In July 2000, a jury comprised of five women and one man from Tok (a small town in east-central Alaska near the Canadian border) ordered Haber and his sponsor, Friends of Animals, to pay damages totaling $190,000: $186,500 to Johnson, plus $500 for the wolf and $3,000 for equipment. The jury, from the trapping community, felt that the emotional distress trapper Johnson suffered as a result of his loss justified the settlement.

Both Haber and Friends of Animals are currently reviewing the jury’s decision and will decide whether or not to appeal.

Photo, Gray wolves are in constant danger from saturation snaring and steel-jaw leghold traps because the Alaska Department of Fish and Game caters to the hunting lobby which wants every caribou and moose for itself.  These wolves are shot from the air after being pursued to exhaustion.  (Daniel J. Cox/Natural Exposures)