Alaska residents on Tuesday rejected a ballot initiative that, had it passed, would have ended the state's predator control program as now conducted.

Ballot Measure 2 would have prohibited the shooting of wolves and bears either from the air or once a plane has landed, unless the commissioner of the Alaska Department of Fish and Game finds that a "biological emergency" exists and has adequate scientific proof.

The measure defined a biological emergency as one in which a prey population will irreversibly decline unless aircraft are used to reduce the number of wolves and bears.

It also would have required state employees to conduct predator control. Now, private citizens are permitted to kill the animals.

The initiative also would have allowed only the minimum number of predators to be removed to end the emergency.

With 85 percent of the precincts reporting, the measure was losing with more than 62 percent of voters saying no.

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