Unalaska, AK – On Friday, the state of Alaska filed a lawsuit against the United States Fish and Wildlife Service over predator control. The state hopes to secure a court order that would allow the Department of Fish and Game to hunt wolves that have been preying on Unimak Island's dwindling caribou population.

Over the past 8 years, the number of caribou on the federal refuge has dropped from 1260 to 300. Corey Rossi, director of the Department of Fish and Game, says that there's good reason to believe that Unimak's wolves are putting the caribou population in jeopardy.

"What the state hopes to accomplish with this effort is to try to at least initially rescue or protect as many of this year's cohort of calves as possible," says Rossi. "Right now, we have evidence that a good many of the calves are being lost to predation and that it's starting to seriously compromise the herd's ability to even survive."

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife service requires that the environmental impact of the plan to hunt the wolves must be studied, which could take up to six months. The federal agency says that any hunting by state employees on the refuge would be considered a trespass. But Alaska's Department of Fish and Game first raised concerns about the caribou in December, and stress that action must be taken now. Fish and Game had hoped to begin aerial hunting of the wolves this week.

Bill McAllister of Alaska's Department of Law says that the state contends that the U.S Fish and wildlife service is in violation of a few federal laws, including the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act and the National Wildlife Refuge System Administration Act.

"We're hoping for a preliminary injunction this week so that we can go ahead with a taking of seven wolves, which is the minimum that the biologists think is necessary to maintain the caribou herd at its current depleted level," says McAllister. "The litigation could continue at that point, and we could determine whether we would be allowed to go ahead with the full predator control program at a later date."

But Bruce Woods, a spokesperson for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, stressed the importance of a review process that would clearly identify the threats to the caribou population, and says that the agency is making its best effort to conduct the review quickly.

"I think that there's every expectation that we would speed the process up as much as possible," says Woods. "But until you get into the middle of one of the review processes, it's sort of hard to anticipate what you're going to encounter. I would be leery of presenting too rosy a picture."

Woods also say that talks will be continuing between the two agencies.

"We are a little disappointed that things have reached this state, but still hopeful that we can work this matter out for the benefit of the wildlife of the island and the people who make use of it," says Woods.

For now, Fish and Game's biologists will continue to track Unimak Island's caribou and wolf populations.