Alaska Fish & Wildlife News
December 2014

Wolverines: Behind the Myth

By Riley Woodford

The wolverine's reputation precedes it.

In Mark Trail's Book of Animals, Ed Dodd writes: “Savage ferocity combined with mischievous cunning has made the wolverine an object of hate and dread among trappers.”

In Mammals of North America, Vic Cahalane recounts the legendary prowess of the wolverine as fact: immensely strong and known to drive bears and mountain lions off their kills (two or three at a time, even); capable of taking down a bear in a fight; and bad-tempered ...   Wolverines Article Continued


170,000 Fish in Hand
A look inside DIPAC's salmon tagging proces

By Mary Catharine Martin

Every fall, workers at the Douglas Island Pink and Chum hatchery spend weeks handling tens of thousands of Chinook and coho salmon individually, clipping their adipose fins as a sign they come from a hatchery and tagging them with a one millimeter long coded stainless steel wire.

According to rates determined by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, 10 percent of the hatchery’s Chinook salmon are tagged and seven percent of its coho salmon are tagged, said DIPAC Director of Operations ...   Salmon tagging Article Continued