Fw: These bears need your help.

[Guest guest]

Defenders of WildlifeDefenders of Wildlife

 

Alaska's famous McNeil River Bears need your help! Unless we act, hunting

could resume in lands near the bears' home -- a disastrous development for

some of the world's most famous brown bears. Take action now to save these

amazing animals.

 

A Safe Place for Bears

 

Each year, people from across America and around the world visit Alaska's

McNeil River State Sanctuary to see the area's famed brown bears congregate

and fish for spawning salmon.

 

Help protect these beloved bears from new hunting in areas adjacent to their

home. Take action now!

http://action.defenders.org/site/R?i=6KZxmYFczhiOn1GxGAp-nQ..

 

Help us meet our goal of 25,000 comments to the Alaska Board of Game by

Friday, February 16th.

 

Your Message Must Be Personalized

It is vitally important that you personalize your comments to the Alaska

Board of Game. Form messages may be disregarded.

Note: If you plan on writing extensive comments, you may want to compose

them in Microsoft Word or another word processing program, and then paste

them into our action form.

http://action.defenders.org/site/R?i=6KZxmYFczhiOn1GxGAp-nQ..

 

Each year, people from across America and around the world visit Alaska's

McNeil River State Sanctuary to see the area's famed brown bears congregate

and fish for spawning salmon. The sanctuary boasts the largest congregation

of brown bears in the world and is a point of pride for Alaskans like me.

 

Now, hunting restrictions that have protected the McNeil River Bears for

more than 20 years are about to expire, and we need your help.

 

Take action now! Please write a personalized message to the Alaska Board of

Game right now, urging them to maintain a ban on hunting on neighboring

state lands in the Kamishak Special Use Area adjacent to Katmai National

Park and the McNeil River State Sanctuary.

 

The McNeil River bears have become accustomed to humans and tolerate their

close presence, making them an invaluable wildlife viewing resource -- and

an easy target for hunters.

 

The bears travel freely between Katmai National Park and Preserve, the

McNeil State Game Sanctuary and Refuge, and the Kamishak Special Use Area

lands. To safeguard the Katmai and the McNeil River bears, continued closure

of the state's Kamishak Special Use Area lands to hunting is absolutely

necessary.

 

Please take a few moments out of your day right now to speak out for these

beloved bears. Click here to write a personalized message, and we'll deliver

it to the Alaska Board of Game.

http://action.defenders.org/site/R?i=6KZxmYFczhiOn1GxGAp-nQ..

 

It is vitally important that you personalize your comments to the Alaska

Board of Game. However, here are some points that you may wish to

incorporate in your message:

The Special Use area, consisting of Little Kamishak and Douglas River lands

(totaling 115 square miles), has been closed for over two decades.

There is ample hunting opportunity in Katmai National Preserve and elsewhere

on state lands outside the existing closed areas.

McNeil River is the most visited site for bear viewing and photography in

the world.

McNeil bears are habituated to human presence; to hunt them is unethical.

In the last 5 years the number of bears seen at McNeil River has decreased

significantly, so opening additional areas to hunting will mean even fewer

bears in the area. Already, McNeil River Bears are killed when they enter

nearby areas where hunting is permitted.

If you've been to this area to view bears please say so in your message.

Comments are due by Friday, February 16th, so please write your message

today.

 

Best Regards,

Karla Dutton

Alaska Director

Defenders of Wildlife

 

http://action.defenders.org/site/R?i=6KZxmYFczhiOn1GxGAp-nQ..