Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin strongly supports aerial hunting of wolves in Alaska. Here's what that looks like:
Aerial wolf hunting
A look at Palin’s preferred method of killing wolves 30
-
Posted 11:03 PM on 31 Aug 2008
by David Roberts -
Posted in
-
Read More About
David Roberts is staff writer for Grist. You can follow his Twitter feed at twitter.com/drgrist.
Related Stories
Palin’s book spreads falsehoods about clean energy legislation
It’s Getting Ha! in Here: Maria Bamford
Gore on the Daily Show: extended dance remix
Add a Comment
You are not logged in. Thus, you cannot post a comment. If you have an account, log in. If you don't have an account, well, by all means go make one! Meet you back here in five.
Comments
View as Threaded
caniscandida Posted 4:13 am
01 Sep 2008
Our own Erik Hoffner some time ago recommended an excellent novel about social realities in northern Alaska, "Ordinary Wolves," in which hunting of wolves from airplanes and snowmobiles is a recurring motif, and the hunting and killing of all animals figure in the background in an important way.
Alaska should never have been granted statehood. As it is, the Alaskans boast that they are the ultimate frontiersmen, when in fact they are subsidized by us taxpayers in the Lower 48, and in a hideously disproportionate way by us New Yorkers. Alaska should be kicked out of the union.
Chickens deserve our true friendship! So do fish! So do other sentient beings! Let us learn to be kind.
Permalink
amazingdrx Posted 4:40 am
01 Sep 2008
http://amazngdrx.blogharbor.com/blog/_archives/2008/9/1/3 ...
http://amazngdrx.blogharbor.com/blog John Schneider, Northern Wisconsin
Permalink
Wolverine Posted 5:53 am
01 Sep 2008
Permalink
Russ Posted 6:54 am
01 Sep 2008
Canis, I too have long thought Alaskan statehood was a mistake. Ted Stevens was in on the ground floor of that process, so Alaskan pols have been like that right from the start.
Permalink
PermieWriter Posted 8:59 am
01 Sep 2008
Eat what you grow, grow what you eat
Permalink
archigeek Posted 1:56 am
02 Sep 2008
The mellotron is your friend.
Permalink
Pangolin Posted 6:24 am
02 Sep 2008
We don't even get the freaking oil!!
Put the Carbon Back
Permalink
wiscidea Posted 6:59 am
02 Sep 2008
If a person is interested in the thrill of the chase, then why not play an elaborate game of laser tag in the wilderness? One guy gets the helicopter or snowmobile and the other guy tries to evade him. Winner buys the other a six pack.
Hunting using primitive weapons and very likely risking one's own life might have once demonstrated that someone was superior mating material, but supporting and participating in aerial -- or any other -- wolf hunting just demonstrates someone is a cruel heartless thug.
Hunting for the thrill of killing something, not for survival, is obscene.
Permalink
caniscandida Posted 8:13 am
02 Sep 2008
Cute idea, Wiscidea. You could make a delightful home video of Dear Ol' Dad, busting his dear ol' heart, as he pushed through that snow drift while being pursued in a snowmobile. The head nurse in the emergency room had the celebratory cocktail, in his place.
Chickens deserve our true friendship! So do fish! So do other sentient beings! Let us learn to be kind.
Permalink
Wolverine Posted 8:41 am
02 Sep 2008
Permalink
wiscidea Posted 9:28 am
02 Sep 2008
The age-old hobby of eliminating the competition, even if the overall result -- regardless of the repulsive nature of the activity -- is reduced health of the elk herd and the environment humans, wolves, and the elk depend upon for survival.
Do they have any evidence that there are more elk available for humans if the wolves are slaughtered? Seems there would be a much higher probability of mass starvation of the elk herd and zero elk for humans or wolves.
Idiots. Don't they teach ecology in the schools up there? Oh... probably not covered by the Bible.
Permalink
amazingdrx Posted 10:05 am
02 Sep 2008
Palin and her hunting guide constituency are out for trophies, the biggest, the strongest, the fittest animals killed for the moronic macho glory of mounting a head on the wall.
Worse yet, the guides already have enough of their own trophies, so they sell more of the best animals to tourists. Flown in to kill and leave. No "sport" in it even.
Here in the north, the guides sell the biggest, most successful fish. Using sonar and fishing maps. The stunted, Pirhana-like smallest fish are left to devour the eggs of the predator walleyes and bass who keep the lakes healthy by limiting those small fish populations.
A local GOP assembleyman here, pandering to his fishing guide friends, got the season opened early here so their client could fish over the spawning beds, allowing these hordes of stunted panfish to devour the eggs of the predator fish.
He was quickly corrected by the olcals and he had to back pedal fast, reversing that disastrous nonsense. But will he ne ousted this election? We'll see.
Palin is the same sort. Sell nature to the highest bidder.
http://amazngdrx.blogharbor.com/blog John Schneider, Northern Wisconsin
Permalink
caniscandida Posted 10:30 am
02 Sep 2008
Elimination of "competitive" predators, e.g. raptors, big cats, and sharks, has always been justified, encouraged and perpetrated by human beings.
But wolves have been put in a category of their own. More than any others, they have figured as embodiments of evil, as diabolical agents, as symbols of Satan. Killing wolves has seemed not just economically prudent, but morally desirable, and even biblically enjoined.
Chickens deserve our true friendship! So do fish! So do other sentient beings! Let us learn to be kind.
Permalink
caniscandida Posted 10:41 am
02 Sep 2008
By coincidence, NYTimes's Bill Marsh wrote an interesting article on Alaska and Hawaii, and facts of various sorts about those states, in the latest Week in Review, including movies about them:
http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2008/08/31/weekinreview ....
He oddly listed "Never Cry Wolf" as a movie about Alaska, when in fact it is based on Mowat's research and experiences in what is now Nunavut, a bit northwest of Hudson Bay.
Still, it was good to recall that beautiful appeal against wolf-hatred, in the context of the wolf-hater Sarah Palin's ascendancy to the VP slot.
Chickens deserve our true friendship! So do fish! So do other sentient beings! Let us learn to be kind.
Permalink
amazingdrx Posted 11:01 am
02 Sep 2008
Just like your comment does too. Keep the faith. The only causes worth fighting for are the hopeless ones.
http://amazngdrx.blogharbor.com/blog John Schneider, Northern Wisconsin
Permalink
John former Marine Posted 10:45 pm
02 Sep 2008
Gotta love "hunters."
Actually, there's an even more pointless activity "sportsmen" engage in. They throw lines in the water, torture a fish for several minutes, tear the hook from their bleeding lips, and then toss it back because they're "conservationists" and they only do "catch and release." Talk about something rediculous. Catch and release? How about I hook a string to my crossbow and go around shooting deer, then pull the barbs out and let them go? WTF is it ok to torture fish for fun and then let them go? This had to be invented in Connecticut or New Jersey.
Il faut cultiver notre jardin.
Permalink
caniscandida Posted 5:30 pm
03 Sep 2008
You are right-on about fishing, and the pain inflicted by even the most conservation-oriented fishermen. Thanks for pointing that out. Very few people have consideration for the suffering of fish.
Chickens deserve our true friendship! So do fish! So do other sentient beings! Let us learn to be kind.
Permalink
Wolverine Posted 6:45 pm
03 Sep 2008
Permalink
saluki Posted 1:38 am
05 Sep 2008
Actually, the sensitivity of the naked ape to the suffering of others is unique in the animal kingdom. No other predator species shows the least concern for the suffering of their prey. Cats often seem to enjoy playing with their prey before killing it. Wolves, weasles, wolverines, and others often kill more than they can eat. Only mankind has an artificial morality that he imposes upon the universe.
Permalink
vakibs Posted 1:48 am
05 Sep 2008
You are right. Human beings are uniquely gifted with the trait of compassion. This is what makes us human, along with our unique ability to reason. Let's celebrate these qualities. Let's think, let's be creative, and let's save the biodiversity of our dear planet.
What wolverine is bemoaning is the appalling lack of this very human quality among several human beings, including Sarah Palin.
Let's think in terms of eco-dollars.
Permalink
wiscidea Posted 2:04 am
05 Sep 2008
So is the tendency to kill for the pure pleasure of it.
Both are natural products of evolution. We now have the option of choosing which behavior we prefer to promote. Do we want leaders who care about our fellow beings or leaders who enjoy sticking fire-crackers in frogs and hunting wolves who are simply fulfilling their role in the natural world.
Obama and Biden represents the first sort of leader.
McCain and Palin represent the second.
Permalink
Russ Posted 2:20 am
05 Sep 2008
Human beings are uniquely gifted with the trait of compassion. This is what makes us human, along with our unique ability to reason. Let's celebrate these qualities. Let's think, let's be creative, and let's save the biodiversity of our dear planet.
Yes. And it's this which renders us uniquely responsible in a way no other predator is.
Actually, I'd say we have the capacity for compassion, as well as for spirit, creativity, and intelligence.
These capacities are most of all a challenge, and the challenge is nothing less than to create oneself as a human being.
Unfortunately, as we know (for example, as we just saw disgustingly displayed in St.Paul), far too many hominids despise this challenge, never become human, and indeed take a depraved pride in remaining gutter apes.
Permalink
amazingdrx Posted 2:27 am
05 Sep 2008
Let it end John. Just say no to this obscenity. Tales of horrendous pain designed to motivate your "base", recounted off a script by another exploitee.
You and Sarah are both victims of the propganda machine of the corporate lobbyists running your campaign.
Use your own words, give your own speeches. Fire the rats who exploit us all.
http://amazngdrx.blogharbor.com/blog John Schneider, Northern Wisconsin
Permalink
saluki Posted 10:19 am
05 Sep 2008
"Let's think, let's be creative, and let's save the biodiversity of our dear planet."
Unfortunately our ability to think often causes us to go to extremes. We can think about compassion for animals, and we can also think about how proud of ourselves we can be for being compassionate for animals. And we think about how we can look better, more moral and superior in the eyes of our peers by making a show of our compassion. We are even able to think of ways that we can claim that we are acting out of compassion when we really are more interested in advancing a political agenda. Don't you find it odd that we can have compassion for a wolf that is hunted and killed from the air and yet we have no compassion for a caribou that is run down by a pack of wolves, evicerated and eaten before it has even died.
"What wolverine is bemoaning is the appalling lack of this very human quality among several human beings, including Sarah Palin."
In regards to hunting in general, it is a trait that humans aquired over the millenia to better feed themselves. And of course those humans that liked doing it were probably favored by natural selection. Just because we have recently moved past the need doesn't mean that the trait is not still there. I don't hunt myself, but I don't begrudge those that do within the context of a well run wildlife management program.
In regards to Palin and the hunting of wolves, her supposed cruelty and blood lust is simply a misrepresentation designed for political gain. Palin inherited a wolf control program from her predecessor and she chose to continue it. The idea that she or Alaskans hate wolves or don't care about the environment is absurd. The wolf control program is specifically targeted to allow certain herds of caribou to recover after too much wolf predation. One of the southern herds, for example, went from 10,000 individuals down to 600, even though the female pregnancy rate was high and food was available. They found that wolf predation was causing the loss of 99% of the newborn caribou within the first two weeks of their life. Palin's wolf control program is designed to remove wolves from very specific caribou breeding grounds in order to give the caribou a chance to recover. The target was to remove about 600 of Alaska's approximately 11,000 wolves.
So when you talk about being intelligent enough to have compassion, you need to look at the bigger picture, not the simplistic and self serving idea that it is terrible to kill wolves. Not the idea that "I'm going to look like such a great humanitarian if I show how disgusted I am by wolf killing." That this idea is in operation here is made obvious by the fact that no one actually bothered to check into the circumstances of the story.
Here is the report of the circumstances.
http://www.adn.com/opinion/story/501699.html
Permalink
saluki Posted 10:23 am
05 Sep 2008
I agree that John's story has been told too many times. But isn't the objective of this site and of this very tread to tell repeated tales of pain for political gain.
Permalink
seabeast Posted 10:46 am
12 Sep 2008
What is the point of preserving biodiversity when one species has already prevailed? We can pretend like we are saving the animals but in fact there just isn't room for them on this earth anymore.
Permalink
nogop4me Posted 12:00 am
15 Sep 2008
The Alaska bounty is hogwash. Not only do they do this hunting from an airplane that is illegal, but inhumane. It is NOT a sport.
Many antisocial personality disorders hold that any violence towards animals, especially torture, shows a complete lack of regard towards humans.
I believe Sarah Palin has showed us that she is amoral and a sociopath. There may be voters out there that don't like Obama, but they do love animals, and this ad will make them sick, and think more than twice about who Sarah Palin is.
I have sent this link to everyone I know.
I lived for 20 years in the Upper Penisula of Michigan and have heard every argument FOR ridding creatures from our environment that don't seem to fit in with the residents. I even turned in my EX-husband for poaching deer, fishing with a gill net, and he was charged with hunting cyoates from a plane! So Poster Alaska, don't try to tell anyone that Alaska needs to kill off it's wolves!
Permalink
animalover Posted 7:19 am
15 Sep 2008
If you look at the official Alaska site, the bounty was proposed by the Alaska Dept of Fish & Game (not Gov. Palin) to be used within a certain remote area where the wolves were decimating the caribou and moose herds as a means to protect help protect the herds. The wolves in this area are overpopulated and each spring during calving season they are killing off most of the newborn calves, homing in on them by the scent of blood. The wolves not only endanger the prey species in the area, but are invested with lice due to overpopulation. Wolves are difficult and expensive to control in this part of Alaska, so the bounty was proposed to help offset some of the expense. The proposal was never implemented. Bounties were historically paid to entice people to help control Wolves but they were ended in the 1970's. It is also notable that they do not issue "hunting licenses" for wolves only "control permits" because the sportsmen have no interest in them and they are not used for food. There are also some areas in Alaska where wolves cannot be killed at all because there is no threat to other wildlife.
While I am an avid animal lover and wildlife conservationist, I also realize there will always be hunting. Some areas of the country depend on hunting for a good portion of their food. Alaska has a long history of shooting wolves from low flying aircraft in the most remote areas (not everywhere). I am not advocating nor condemning this method because I understand the argument from both sides. Shooting from low flying aircraft is not something people do for "fun". They must remove the door from the plane and fly in sub-zero temperatures during winter months when the wolves can be tracked. The wildlife management reports I read, indicated that "wound & injure rates were very low" and they reported wound & injure rates associated with other hunting methods as well. The report also states one of the main reasons for collecting the forelegs is to ensure that animals are actually killed not just wounded. I think law makers have a responsibility to make and enforce laws that require humane hunting practices. As I read the 144 pages of the report I was impressed at the amount of thoughtful study and detailed information that it contained and that they actually are concerned with "wound & injure" rates, lice etc. - and that they outlawed shooting of wolves in areas where they are not a threat. I'm not saying they are perfect or can't be improved upon, but I don't believe this is as big an issue as some are trying to "spin" it to be.
I'm not sure what Mr. Obama's position on killing wolves (or any other wildlife) is. However I do know he is personally responsible for blocking a bill that would have allowed doctors to give medical treatment to babies born alive after botched abortions. He listened to personal testimony from nurses who were only allowed to hold these babies for their short lives and watch them inhumanly suffer and fade away which often takes hours. Obama personally blocked the state bill even after wording was changed be the same as the Federal Bill which passed the US Senate unopposed (Both Hillary & Kerry voted in favor of the bill). I cannot vote for someone who has that little regard for human life. I also cannot imagine that someone who is not concerned with the humane treatment of newborn babies would somehow be concerned with humane treatment of animals.
Here are links to the full congressional testimony of some of these nurses- no spin added.
http://nobamanews.blogspot.com/2008/07/jill-staneks-full- ...
http://nobamanews.blogspot.com/2008/07/allison-bakers-ful ...
the federal law - no spin added
http://www.nrlc.org/ObamaBAIPA/BAIPAFederal.pdf
Jill Stanek is the nurse who took this issue to her state legislature. This is the link to her full report in Citizen Link (non-partisan)
(Yes, she does have an agenda too - she is pro-life, however her objective in this case was only to fight for babies born alive - not to fight all abortion.)
http://www.citizenlink.org/content/A000007034.cfm#
Permalink
megal Posted 6:50 pm
12 Oct 2008
Permalink
amazingdrx Posted 9:29 pm
12 Oct 2008
http://amazngdrx.blogharbor.com/blog/_archives/2008/9/21/ ...
http://amazngdrx.blogharbor.com/blog John Schneider, Northern Wisconsin
Permalink