OSAKA, JAPAN - April 23 - The public outcry over the aerial-killing of wolves has brought worldwide disgrace to Alaska, where private citizens have used official permits to shoot wolves from airplanes, killing more than 140 wolves: 20 wolves near McGrath, and 120 in the Nelchina Basin region near Glenallen. Alaska's wolf "control" program ends April 30, and is slated to resume next winter.

Priscilla Feral, president of the U.S.-based Friends of Animals, states: "Alaska's wolf-killing schemes shame the entire country."

Members and supporters of the group continue to lead a boycott of Alaska’s $2 billion tourism industry until the aerial-shooting program is cancelled.

From Naples, Florida to Osaka, Japan, people will gather from Thursday to Sunday (22-25 April) to support the wolves’ interest in life and freedom as the world celebrates Earth Day.

Isabelle Dee of Wolf Network Japan will host a Howl-In this Sunday, 25 April, at the Osaka Business Park (OBP) Twin 21 Gallery. This follows two days of protest last weekend in Tokyo. Japanese tourists are one of the largest groups of international tourists to Alaska. U.S.-based Howl-Ins will be held in California, Arizona, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Massachusetts, and Colorado.

At more than 150 Howl-Ins to date, people have signed postcards pledging to boycott travel to Alaska until the wolf-killing is stopped. 94,000 “Boycott Alaska” postcards have been distributed; numerous e-mails, phone calls, and letters have reached Alaska Governor Frank Murkowski from people who endorse the Friends of Animals tourism boycott. Meanwhile, in the legal arena, on the 26th of March, Friends of Animals challenged the Alaska Board of Game on the "biological data" employed to approve aerial-gunning of wolves.

Howl-Ins will continue until 30 April 2004, the last official day of Alaska’s aerial wolf-shooting program, and they will resume if the wolf ‘control’ resumes in the winter snowfalls. For details about when and where Howl-Ins are happening, and to see the names of over 100 organizations supporting the tourism boycott, see www.friendsofanimals.org/wolves/list.htm

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