Federal judge sentences 4 Alaska men for 2015 walrus deaths

Four Alaska men who shot several walruseswithout keeping the meat and caused stampedes that killed about two
dozen more animals have been sentenced to probation, restitution andcommunity service.

Federal prosecutors announced Thursday that Adam Sage, MichaelTuzroyluk, Guy Tuzroyluk, and Jacob Lane also will be banned from hunting walrus for a year.

All four men are from Point Hope, a village on Alaska's northwestcoast.

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Walrus use sea ice as a platform for diving to reach clams and sea snails on the ocean floor. Grouped shoulder-to-shoulder, walrus can be crushed in stampedesif startled by an airplane, hunter or polar bear.

A lack of sea ice in recent years hasforced the animalsto instead rest on shore in late summer. An estimated 35,000 walrus were photographed in early September 2015 near PointLay.

A few weeks later, a person connected to a remote Air Force radarstation photographed more than two dozen dead walrus at CapeLisburne, 370 kilometresnortheast of the Bering Strait.

Only Alaska Natives who live in the state may hunt walrus. Walruskilled only for ivory is illegal.

Men only salvaged tusks

Federal prosecutors in September charged the four Point Hope menwith misdemeanours in the case. All were qualified to hunt marinemammals for subsistence purposes.

Prosecutors said the men made two hunting trips to Cape Lisburne,where up to 1,000 walruses were on shore. They shot several walrusesand salvaged only the tusks.

Stampedes that followed the shootings killed or injured at leasttwo dozen more walrus. About half were calves. Those animals also were left to rot.

Lane was sentenced Friday in Fairbanks and the other three weresentenced within the last month.

The Point Hope Native Village Council recommended terms of themen's three-year probation.

The men were ordered to pay $1,000 restitution for walrusconservation projects on national wildlife refuges. They were bannedfrom hunting walrus for a year and ordered to hunt for subsistence needs of Point Hope elders during probation.

The men were ordered to perform 500 hours of community serviceand to publicly apologize to the village council and to Point Hopewhaling captains.