Stop! Don't Shoot!

The state of Alaska made an abrupt about-face on its plan to destroy hundreds of gray wolves next year. In an effort to attract more tourists and big-game hunters, state officials had announced in November that they would cull the state's 7,000-member wolf population (wolves are not endangered in Alaska). They argued that the move was needed to boost the number of caribou and moose on which the wolf packs generally feed. But a growing boycott of Alaskan cruises by some of the very tourists the state had meant to attract forced officials to cancel their plans.