Monday Digest

Governmental-Stupidity-But-I-Repeat-Myself Dept:  I recently posted about a village on Unimak Island being threatened by a couple of wolf packs. There are also several wolves roaming freely through the wooded areas on Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson (JBER) here in Anchorage.

Ten of the wolves on JBER have been killed, but at least four others remain. Personnel (remember, this is U.S. military personnel we're talking about) are advised to leave the wolves alone, and apparently have ceded the hiking/biking trails to the predators.

The real complication here is what the federal authoritehs are telling the state's Fish & Wildlife department: leave the wolves alone. They're on a federal wildlife preserve, so therefore nothing can be done unless it's an emergency. Apparently, two large wolfpacks threatening an entire village of Natives, forcing armed parents to accompany their children to and from school, and while they play outside, isn't enough. The implication is that no one gets permission to shoot until the wolves attack, and possibly kill, someone.

There is also a large herd of caribou on the island (hence the proximity of four-legged predators) which the villagers used to harvest for food. Well, we can't have that. No one has been allowed to kill a caribou in several years, either, despite the villagers' assertions that the caribou are their only source of red meat.

Unless I miss my guess, it's only a matter of time before shots ring out in the dusk, and both wolf & caribou numbers begin to 'mysteriously' decline.


Just-When-You-Hope-It's-Over Dept: The streets are now mostly clear of ice & snow, and many of the puddles have shrunk or disappeared. But it's only late March, and winter here isn't over until it decides it is (usually late April).

We had sunny skies yesterday, which was nice, following a week of grey skies. Today? Not so much. It's cloudy, there's frost & fog, and the folks at Accu-Oops Weather are guessing we'll get more snow this afternoon and tonight.

Could be worse. The first spring we were here, there was double the normal snowfall, and it snowed eight inches on the ahem first day of spring, to add to the thick layer already on the ground.


I think that's enough fun for one morning. Have a great Monday.