70 Euros are paid to hunters for each wolf killed. This is a considerable sum in a country where the average monthly wage is 230 Euros. In Russia, government-backed wolf exterminations have been largely discontinued since the fall of the Soviet Union. As a result, their numbers have stabilized and are increasing, though they are still hunted legally. According to Alexander Tikhonov, head of the Department of Hunting Resources "the more wolves you have, the more problems there are". His department currently licenses a national bag limit of up to 14,000 wolves annually, with permits given to hunt even within nature reserves. Currently, Russia is the only nation where poison is legally used to kill wolves. The government licensed a fluorine-acetate-barium compound and distributed it through hunting associations. Asia Since the fall of the Soviet Union, wolf hunting in Kazakhstan has decreased in profit. About 2,000 are killed yearly for a $40 bounty, though the animal's numbers have risen sharply. Wolf hunting has become a fashionable pastime for Mongolia's new capitalist rich, particularly around Ulaanbaatar. It is currently illegal to shoot animals from helicopters or jeeps, though many rich hunters do not pay attention to this, including the lawmakers. For Mongolian nomads, hunting wolves is more than a rich man's hobby because of evocations to the wolf's role in their mythology. Most post-Soviet Mongols have reverted to the traditional belief that to kill a wolf in January, or even to see one, brings good fortune for the whole year. In 2006, the government of the People's Republic of China began plans to auction licenses for foreigners to hunt wild animals, including wolves which are the only carnivores on the list of animals that can be hunted. The license to shoot a wolf can apparently be acquired for $200. North America In Alaska, it is illegal to shoot a wolf with a rimfire rifle because wolves are classified as big game. The state predator control program includes aerial shooting. In 2007 state biologists' goal was to have volunteer hunters kill 407 to 680 wolves by the time the predator-control season ended April 30, but high fuel prices and poor flying conditions kept hunters from meeting that goal. A subsidy of $150 per wolf offered by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game was overturned by a judge on the grounds that only the Board of Game had the power to offer