Alaska clear to proceed with bear killing program
Monique Merrill
(CN) — A bear control program allowing the state to kill an unlimited number of bears across a 40,000-square-mile swath of southwest Alaska may proceed after conservationists failed to convince a judge Wednesday to block the program.
The Alaska Wildlife Alliance and the Center for Biological Diversity sued the state in late 2025, accusing it of violating the Alaska Constitution when the state Board of Game adopted the bear control program.
The conservation groups argued the court should block the program, but Anchorage Superior Court Judge Adolf Zeman sided with the state.
“This court refrains from adopting the reasoning of either party because both oversimplify the issue; plaintiffs discount the harms of stifling growth and delaying consumptive harvests of the [Mulchatna Caribou Herd], and the state overextends the holding in Kluti Kaah,” Zeman wrote in a 23-page order. “Rather, this court holds that because the state’s interests cannot be adequately protected if the injunction is granted, the probable-success-on-the-merits standard applies.”
The state argued that blocking the program would cause continued harvest closures of the caribou herd, which would delay both the herd’s recovery and the state’s imperative to resume a limited subsistence harvest of bull caribou. Zeman agreed.
“Therefore, the state cannot be adequately protected should the injunction be granted, because it effectively alleges that consumptive interests will be substantially harmed, and these interests cannot be indemnified,” Zeman wrote.
Zeman also found the conservation groups failed to prove they would likely prevail in their challenge and that the Board of Game considered additional relevant and genuine bear population data before adopting the program.
The state said it welcomed the court’s decision to “allow this management program to continue during the upcoming caribou calving season, a crucial time for herd recovery.”
“Experts, within their authority and expertise, make these informed decisions, taking into account the needs of Alaskans and the health of wildlife populations,” Sam Curtis, information officer for the Alaska Department of Law, said in a statement. “Continuing this program makes sense in light of the scientific record.”
But the conservation groups shared a less positive outlook.
“We are deeply disappointed by the court’s decision to allow the gunning program to move forward today,” Nicole Schmitt, executive director of Alaska Wildlife Alliance, said in a statement.
“This unlawful plan has irreversible consequences, and I’m concerned that state game agents could start killing bears before this case is resolved,” Cooper Freeman, Alaska director at the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a statement.
And Michelle Sinnott, staff attorney with Trustees for Alaska, said the program threatens bear populations vital to places like Katami National Park and McNeil River.
“Unfortunately, the state will continue pushing forward with its scientifically baseless bear-killing program, and by the time this case is resolved, the harm caused to these bear populations cannot be undone,” Sinnott said in a statement. “That’s not responsible wildlife management.”
Litigation between the conservation groups and the Alaska Board of Game began in 2022 when the state first enacted the bear control program in an effort to recover the Mulchatna caribou herd. The groups successfully blocked the program in early 2025, two years after it first sued, as the Anchorage Superior Court found the board adopted the program without due process and without consideration of bear population data.
Shortly after the court blocked the program, the board reinstated the program using its emergency rulemaking authority — a move the court struck down as a “bad faith attempt to circumvent” the earlier order.
The Fish and Game Department killed 11 brown bears over the course of one weekend between when the board reinstated the rule and the court struck it down.
In July, the board adopted a new program seeking to control the bear population, prompting the conservation groups to sue again.
The conservation groups maintain the program violated the Constitution, which requires the state to manage wildlife populations, including bears, as a protected public resource to be maintained in perpetuity.
“We want to see the caribou herd thrive, but the state simply hasn’t shown that the unrestrained killing of bears is going to help us get there,” Freeman said. “We need to stop this disgraceful waste of the state’s limited resources and work based on science to protect all our wildlife.”