Defenders of Wildlife video of Alaskan aerial wolf-hunting.
From 2007:
Anchorage, AK — Today Defenders of Wildlife, the Alaska Wildlife Alliance and the Alaska Chapter of the Sierra Club asked the Alaska Superior Court to shut down Governor Palin’s $150-per-wolf bounty program citing the fact that Alaska’s bounty laws were repealed in 1984 and the State has no current legal authority to implement the bounties.
“The Governor is overstepping her legal authority by offering cash payments for each wolf killed by aerial gunners,” stated Tom Banks, Defenders of Wildlife’s Alaska Associate. “That’s a bounty by anyone’s standards regardless of what they call it.”
Hoping to boost the number of wolves killed this year by permitees, Palin announced the state would pay $150 for each kill. According to an Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) news release, the bounty was instituted to “motivate permittees to redouble their efforts and to help offset the high cost of aviation fuel, ADF&G will offer cash payments to those who return biological specimens to the department.” The state’s press release, issued last Wednesday, indicates that “Permittees will be paid $150 when they bring in the left forelegs of wolves taken from any of several designated control areas.”
“Governor Palin needs to take a close look at wildlife management practice in her state and restore the use of sound science,” concludes Banks. “She said would heed the will of the public, but it’s increasingly clear she’s only listening to that segment that is willing to sacrifice Alaska’s natural heritage for the benefit of a few.”
The judge is expected to make a decision fairly quickly.
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Governor Palin served on an ethics committee for gas and oil, yet has no concept of ETHICS when it comes to wildlife. There are the Leavers and Takers in this world and Palin is a Taker. She obviously uses her powers to get rid of people in government and the wildlife she abhores. She has no concept of the sacred life God put on this planet. If it is the survival of polar bears or wolves VS oil and gas or rich hunters (all predators of the environment,, then she will protect the rights of the rich and the hunters rather than the innocent and sacred existence of beautiful, wild, predators.
This is a horrific story and anyone who supports this kind of killing cannot be a normal feeling person. This needs to be out everywhere on TV in front of people. What can we do ?
I think two things need be done and one of them has nothing to do with this story in particular but a larger problem in general– the perception of Palin.
It is absolutely essential that GOP strategists not be allowed to continue to use the media to build the Palin myth. She needs to be kept real, flawed, human. Stories like this involving wolf-killing is part of the reporting that needs to be done to keep her in perspective.
The problem is making sure that most stories when reported, especially by the media (not so much by the blogosphere) be ACCURATE. If the GOP strategists can convince the voting audience that the media is less trustworthy than already supposed, then factual critical reporting will be less effective.
So now the question, going back to wolf-hunting– is ensuring that what it appear this story points to– that Palin is more interested in furthering pro-NRA and anti-wildlife interests– is in fact ACCURATE.
If it is (and anyone interested in this story should do independent research to verify the details) then presenting what one discovers and the story as it motivates one in their own terms and that clearly underscores her POSITIONS– but is not necessarily attacking HER– be furthered by word of mouth, editorial and opinion writing to papers and calling into local news programs and so on.
Local politics is really VERY effective. People vote locally.
Palin is another gun-toting, brainless and unethical power-hungry Republican bent on keeping at least certain parts of America in 1600s. She needs to be kept out of government and locked up for her cruelty to animals. Why is it that the Republicans are so determined to destroy nature in the search for greater wealth and more votes?!?!
Is anyone smart enough on this thread to understand that many western states have wolf control programs to protect species like moose and caribou (who are endangered) from their natural predators (wolves). You don’t want to drill in ANWAR because of a threat to Caribou, but killing wolves who haven’t got enough food to sustain the size of their populations. So for the uninformed, partisans on this thread, controlled thinning of predators is a responsible thing to do to protect endangered species while keeping over-crowded species death by starving and disease due to weakness and malnutrition. This really isn’t rocket science folks. It’s been going on for 150 years.
Oooo…Rachel…before you insult me or the other readers of this website, chill; this is my house. Keep your feet off my table!!
And your point would be what, exactly? Wolves v Caribou?
That aerial killing is GOOD? The FACT is that aerial killing is CHEAP. And inhumane. And the major Wildlife Protection Groups DISDAIN (that would mean think it’s a very bad idea) the practice. So, let’s see, wildlife groups DO care about other species (like Caribou) and yet, frown on killing wolves. Why would that be? Maybe because there are alternatives to saving caribou. Maybe, they would cost more. Well, if Ms Failin’ Palin’ could take some of the oil bribe money she is doling out to her peeps from AK coffers she could do the right (and that includes HUMANE) thing with it for both species. Oh, maybe that would not look good on her GOP resume– it’s all about “giving back”!
Hmmmm…shame that.
BTW, what gave you away as a ‘troll’ is your misunderstanding of the reasons to protect ANWR (which do NOT, BTW, rotate around Caribou).
But please, do come again.
I have to admit that watching videos of this practice turns my stomach, but there would surely be consequences to many animal species, including wolves and humans, if effective wildlife management practices were banned. Let us not forget what happened in this country when horse slaughter was banned. The resulting surplus of horses has resulted in plummeting horse values, and horses being abandoned and neglected in record numbers. Now, perfectly healthy and well trained horses are selling at auction for less than $200, and some are being purchased by kill buyers for shipment to Mexico where there are no industry controls, and the barbaric cruelty being employed is beyond this writer’s imagination. I would have to say that there has never been a worse time to be a horse in this country. These are the unintended consequences of well meaning animal activists that failed to look at the big picture.
Before anyone starts sending hate mail, please hear me out. Wolves and bears are top line predators, meaning that there are no natural predators to control their numbers. If you love animals, you must think about the consequences to other animal species if they are allowed to overpopulate in any given area. In a worst case scenario, disaster ensues for the overpopulated predator species as well. When their natural food sources become scarce, they will savage and prey on not only each other, but humans and domestic animals as well.
Aerial management may seen unfair and barbaric, but consider the alternative that was used before airplanes were available. They were poisoned with strychnine baits. Poisoning likely affected non targeted species as well – such as eagles.
Alaska has attempted other management methods in the past. See: http://www.wc.adfg.state.ak.us/management/control/predator_management.pdf
Now let us discuss the impact of these predator species on humans. There seems to be a misconception that managing the population of these species is merely an attempt to preserve moose and caribou for sport hunting. On the contrary, the very lives and existence of approximately 16% of Alaska’s populaton is at stake. These are the native tribes that have depended on wild game as their main source of sustenance for thousands of years. It’s not like they can become vegetarians in these regions. I might argue that the continued existence of rural native Alaskan people is at far greater risk than the wildlife.
Taken from http://books.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=5791&page=36 :
“The first humans in the Western Hemisphere are believed to have come from Asia across the Beringian land bridge into Alaska 12,000-15,000 years ago.” It is their home, too. For those that argue that the problem is simply too many humans in Alaska rather than too many wolves and bears, let me point out that there are approximately 635,000 residents or about 1.1 persons per square mile – in an area that is twice the size of Texas and one fifth the size of the lower 48 states. In the lower 48, there are approximately 79 people per square mile. Plenty of elbow room! The state’s population ranks 47th in the nation. “Human activities have had less effect on the ecosystems of Alaska than elsewhere in the United States. Conversion of land to agricultural use has been minimal, as is the extent of land alteration through mining and petroleum development.”
My conclusion: Perhaps you don’t care about the tribes of people who are the last remaining ancestors of the “First Americans”. Do you not care about all of the other animal species at stake when bears and wolves overpopulate? Is there no concern for livestock, dogs, cats, and human children that are attacked when these predators are allowed to diminish too much wild game in a given area? And finally, have you no concern for the affect on the wolves, themselves, when they overpopulate? Aside from them preying on each other when food sources become scarce, it leads to a natural progression of disease and starvation among them.
Posted by Bronco in the Daily Interlake: “The waxing and waning of species populations are regulated by nature and she seems heartless and cruel in her choices at times. Forget romantic notions of her preserving only the animals we hold dear and erasing the invasive and ugly ones. Fish and game management agencies throughout the country have been employing well thought out agendas that have led to game populations that exceed those before we set foot here hundreds of years ago. Those agencies have people in them who are concerned for our wildlife, not butchers who rejoice in their deaths. It’s unfortunate for the wolves, I agree. They are beautiful, intelligent, animals that mate for life and have strong family values. But left to propagate unattended they will follow the course of all species who find their numbers swelled to overpopulation. Mother nature introduces disease and starvation.”
Before we jump on the bandwagon and condemn the people of Alaska while sitting at computers in our urban homes, let us educate ourselves about the issues first
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