Wolf hunting
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Wolf hunting is the practice of hunting wolves, especially the Gray Wolf (Canis lupus). Wolves are hunted for sport, for their skins, to protect livestock, and to prevent attacks on people. In North America, wolf attacks on people occur less frequently than attacks by other predators, particularly grizzly bears, black bears, and coyotes. In Europe they are almost unheard of even in historical terms. Wolf attacks are much more likely to occur when large numbers of wolves and people are in close proximity.
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[edit] In Central Asia
Wolves are hunted by a variety of methods across the world. Perhaps the most unusual is the Central Asian practice of hunting wolves with berkuts. The berkut is a type of Golden Eagle which Kirghiz people have traditionally used to hunt wolves. These eagles are so fast and powerful that they are capable of killing a fully grown wolf by diving at speed and striking the wolf on the back of the head or neck.
[edit] In Europe
The European wolf population has been severely reduced over the centuries. Despite small populations in Scandinavia, Norway allowed the hunting of a pack of nine wolves out of a total Scandinavian population of about one hundred in 2001. Attitudes of wolf hatred still persist, particularly in the North of Sweden, despite efforts to educate the population about the true, relatively harmless, nature of the wolf.
Several breeds of dog have been specially bred to hunt wolves or to protect livestock from wolf attacks. Russians have traditionally hunted wolves with a variety of specially bred dogs including the borzoi which looks, and hunts, like a greyhound. Other breeds bred for wolf hunting include the Irish Wolfhound and the Finnish Wolf hound.
[edit] In the United States
In the United States, all hunting of wolves is banned in the contiguous 48 States, where they are listed as endangered or threatened under the Endangered Species Act of 1973.
Aerial hunting is banned in the United States, except in Alaska. Wolves may be shot from airplanes if it is part of a state management program which identifies a particular need to reduce wolf populations, as is the case in Alaska. There, where the aerial control program is designed to increase populations of moose and caribou for subsistence use, people who have obtained state predator control permits use fixed wing planes to spot and either shoot wolves, or land and shoot wolves.
Alaska voted in a state-wide referendum on November 7, 2000 to ban aerial hunting by private citizens. Governor Frank Murkowski, however, continues to permit the "land and shoot" practice in certain areas of the state, describing it as public participation in a predator control program. Permittees receive no money for participating in the program and are not reimbursed for the cost of fuel or aircraft maintenance
