The Wrangell sentinel., 1938-09-30
WILDLIFE AGENTS NEEDED
 COPE CHEECHAC0 GUNS

l JUNEAU - AlaSka IaE=TQHmAuE wildlife agents must be increased l in number soon to cope with the swarms of Gheeehako gunmen, lured by this summers gold boom in the Westward and Interior, who threat en to make a hell of the Territory s l teeming game preserves through mere love Of killing. l In the mind of Game Commission CT Frank Dufresne, who returned yesterday from the Kenai Peninsula on the Game Commissions Br5 ynI Bear, this is a statement of plain necessity.
 Tn the heart of the Kenai pro-I tected by an isolation that only air-I planes and an occasional river boat can violate, we have immensely pre-I cious sheep ranges, moose pastureI and bear country" Dufresne said. l
 Isolation Will Disappear
 When the Homer Highway isl completed on the peninsula. this isolation will disappear and the kill CTS will flock in from the Outside. l The increase in colonization andl settlement will inevitably attract many whose attitude toward wild life differs drastieally from that of resident Alaskans
 Probably, Dufresne said. We shall be obliged to enact new re- strictions in the Kenai country to check depletion of flocks and herds.
 But certainly we must have more wardens. We must increase the present staff of II men to d total of IS within the near future. I Alaskans already have come to realization of this necessity" Du-I fresne continued
 The Commissioner said that Con-I gress in its next session would prob ably appropriate funds for such anl enlargement of staff.
 Requests For Wardens
 For a long time we have re- ceiYed demands and requests for wardens from Natives. Eskimos, game associations, and chambers of commerce, at Wrangell, Sitka, Craig Kodiak, Ruby on the Yukon, Kotze- bue, Bethel on the Kuskokwim, Un- alaska, Eagle, Kenai and even Point Barrow.
 Dufresne said that the Game Com mission is not concerned with the hunting habits of Alaskans.
 Nowhere in the United States" he said, lis there a class of people so game-eonscious and so thoroughly aware of the value of their wild life preserves.
 If we could be confident that the thrush of settlers from the Out side would take the same discrimi- nate and affectionate attitude to- ward our animal life as do resident I Alaskans, there would be no prob lem"
 But the Game Commission is talk ing nothing for granted. From bit ter experience it has learned that many non-Alaskans will kill rashly and wastefully Therefore, Dufresne believes. the gradual "opening" of the country makes essential an in- crease in game protection.
 Dufresne has placed this problem before the nation in an editorial written for Field and Stream, na- tional sportsmen's publication. The editorial appears in the October is- sue.
 Eight Months On Patrol
 The Commissioner points out that his wardens now are required to spend a total of eight months per year on patrol and the remaining four months on headquarters assign ment.
 In spite of territory as large as the sum total in the United States. the agents have reduced vio- lations to minimum through a high percentage of apprehensions of law breakers and through rigorous pros ecution.
 Of IA violators brought before the courts last year, 143 pleaded guilty, Dufresne's records show, and 1855 additional cases prosecuted have brought confiscations of furs, games, firearms involved in illicit practices.