00SENATE BILL NO. 81                                                                                                      
01 "An Act classifying the wolf as a predator and providing for a bounty on wolf."                                         
02 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA:                                                                
03    * Section 1.  AS 16.35 is amended by adding new sections to read:                                                    
04 ARTICLE 2.  WOLF.                                                                                                       
05  Sec. 16.35.210.  CLASSIFYING WOLF AS PREDATOR.  (a)  The wolf is a                                                    
06 predator.  The wolf is not a big game animal or a fur bearing animal.                                                   
07  (b)  A wolf may be taken by any method or means without restriction.                                                  
08  (c)  Wolf may be taken without a bag limit, a limitation on sex, age, size, or                                        
09 other restriction.                                                                                                      
10  Sec. 16.35.220.  BOUNTY.  (a)  The department shall pay a bounty of $400                                              
11 for each wolf taken in the state and presented for identification and sealing or marking                                
12 at an office of the department designated by the commissioner or at a regional office                                   
13 of the department.                                                                                                      
14  (b)  A person who claims the bounty on a wolf shall present the raw skin with                                         

01 the right foreleg, including ulna and radius bones, attached in a natural state.  The                                   
02 department shall retain the right foreleg and seal or mark each skin presented to                                       
03 indicate that the bounty had been paid for that skin.  The claimant may retain the skin                                 
04 after it is sealed or marked.  The department shall pay the bounty to the claimant                                      
05 within 30 days after presentment of the skin.                                                                           
06  (c)  The state shall accept all claims for payment of the bounty on a wolf that                                       
07 are made under this section.  The payment of the bounty is a legal obligation of the                                    
08 state.                                                                                                                  
09    * Sec. 2.  AS 08.54.590(2) is amended to read:                                                                       
10     (2)  "big game" means brown bear, grizzly bear, caribou, moose, black                                              
11 bear, bison, Sitka blacktail deer, elk, mountain goat, musk-ox, [WOLF,] wolverine,                                      
12 mountain or Dall sheep;                                                                                                 
13    * Sec. 3.  TRANSITION.  Notwithstanding AS 16.35.210, as added by sec. 1 of this Act                                 
14 and sec. 4 of this Act, a person who holds an unused big game tag for wolf issued under                                 
15 AS 16.05.340(a) before the effective date of sec. 1 of this Act may take a wolf before                                  
16 January 1, 1996, under big game hunting regulations for wolf as those regulations existed on                            
17 the day before the effective date of sec. 1 of this Act.                                                                
18    * Sec. 4.  AS 16.05.340(a)(15)(J) and 16.05.340(a)(21)(K) are repealed.