Sarah Palin's record on hunting wildlife.....

There's an English word that comes to mind... but I won't use it in good company.

 

I have not seen the commercial, but I have seen the videos where this footage is drawn from. Yes, barbaric.

There is a non-political video documentary type video on YouTube, posted one year ago on this issue.

The aerial hunting is the systematic reduction of the larger predators to very low levels apparently to increase the game (caribou, elk) available for sport hunters but under the guise that it is for the subsistence hunters (Alaskans who rely on wild game for meat).

Alaskans have decidedly voted to ban aerial wolf hunting TWICE. The video goes into detail about why eliminating the predators is bad (i.e. too many caribou, etc. will decimate the landscape). It also shows that more than half of the game shot in Alaska is from non-residents (i.e. sport/trophy hunters), not for subsistence.

Using 1950's 'technology' of predator population control and ignoring the science learned on eco system, herd and predator control/balance in the decades since aerial wolf hunting was used for these purposes is just a really dumb idea. And Sarah Palin apparently supports this.

Edit: Oops, forgot to link video (~10 min video)

 

From what I've read, there is the possibility that too many predators are being eliminated in certain areas and the prey populations may sicken due to too many numbers, disease and not enough food. I also read that the areas in question were less for subsistence hunting and more for rich tourist hunting.

Apparently there was a report of some kind that stated the opposite of what the Alaskan government reported. Might have been polar bears. The true findings of the report were....revised as they did not support the policies the Alaskan Government wished to pursue.

 

Salon had a pretty good article on this:

Her deadly wolf program

With a disdain for science that alarms wildlife experts, Sarah Palin continues to promote Alaska's policy to gun down wolves from planes.

The controversy over Palin's promotion of predator control goes beyond animal rights activists recoiling at the thought of picking off wolves from airplanes. A raft of scientists has argued that Palin has provided little evidence that the current program of systematically killing wolves, estimated at a population of 7,000 to 11,000, will result in more moose for hunters. State estimates of moose populations have come under scrutiny. Some wildlife biologists say predator control advocates don't even understand what wolves eat.

Gordon Haber is a wildlife scientist who has studied wolves in Alaska for 43 years. "On wildlife-related issues, whether it is polar bears or predator controls, she has shown no inclination to be objective," he says of Palin. "I cannot find credible scientific data to support their arguments," he adds about the state's rationale for gunning down wolves. "In most cases, there is evidence to the contrary."

Last year, 172 scientists signed a letter to Palin, expressing concern about the lack of science behind the state's wolf-killing operation. According to the scientists, state officials set population objectives for moose and caribou based on "unattainable, unsustainable historically high populations." As a result, the "inadequately designed predator control programs" threatened the long-term health of both the ungulate and wolf populations. The scientists concluded with a plea to Palin to consider the conservation of wolves and bears "on an equal basis with the goal of producing more ungulates for hunters."

 

It's better to let the herds overpopulate and then slowly stave to death through the winter.

or we could feed them all....






"The cuter the critter, the sweeter the meat."

 

Thank you for posting this. Even though I am vegan, I can somewhat understand that some people hunt (on foot) for their meals, but this kind of hunting and watching those animals rear up in pain not knowing what happened, oh god it makes me so ill.

 

I read the footage was actually scientists shooting wolves with sleeping darts for a study.

The actual footage was way too graphic showing a wolf getting shot clean through with a lot of blood splatter.

Wolves do a service by taking out the sick and infirm. When man starts to mess with the balance all sorts of things happen.

You'd think we would have learned our lesson.

Today I was listening on the radio to how noise pollution from ships is harming marine mammals. They're going deaf and getting hit by ships. They proposed the ships going slower. It would provide three things:

1. Less noise

2. Less greenhouse gases

3. More time for whales to get out of the way.

 

What's interesting is that the Defenders of Wildlife board of directors, which voted to endorse Obama solely because of Palin's barbaric cruelty, is made up of both Republicans and Democrats.

Republicans who respect the environment oppose Palin so strongly, that her mere presence on the Republican ticket is enough for them to bolt from their party.

 

Farley Mowat told us this with Never Cry Wolf in 1963. So it's not like we don't know the wolf makes the caribou stronger, it's just that there's more money in 'sport' hunting.

 

Playing devil's advocate here and certainly not encouraging this... but how is this different from humans allowing the strong to pray upon the weak? Would help reduce our overpopulation problems, no?

 

this is a good point, I forwarded this to my wife's mom. I hope she watches this and realizes how disturbing this is. I am now awaiting the Fox News Spin. LOL

 

Undoubtedly it would. But having the ability to plan for the future (debatable, I know) we shouldn't have to resort to it. Sadly though, we're not really much smarter than other mammals. Sure we're vastly better at some things, but we have all the same primitive baggage that drives our decision making.

Daniel, what's your source on the Palin thing? It seems that many folks are quite smitten with her at the moment. I expect that that will change as she opens her mouth (or not as she seems to be shielded from real scrutiny at the moment).

 

Indeed, there are many species where the adults eat their offspring as fast as they can gobble them up. (What is the opposite of a Devil's Advocate?)

 

Somebody posted a YouTube video of the anti-Palin commercial sponsored by the animal outfit. There was a web URL and I followed it there.

 

Devil's Antagonist? I remember being shocked a number of years ago when people in the field filmed a male hippo killing his offspring. I was shocked and saddened. I knew hippos were some of the most dangerous animals in the wild but I thought they were gentle parents.

 

Thanks m8.

 

Isn't this just good free market economics?

 

Well, wolves don't build guns and shoot each other or blow each other up with explosive vests worn by suicide wolves.

So you need a better definition of strong and weak than what is used for the animal world.

Who is stronger? Stephen Hawking or Jesse Ventura?

That said, if you look at what we're doing from medical breakthroughs to sanitizing our food sources, we are weakening ourselves as a species. By sanitizing our foods to such an extent, we have eliminated bacteria and bugs our ancestors probably had immunities to stuff that gives us the runs or makes us vomit or even...die. And our medical breakthroughs are allowing humans with inferior genetic to breed and contribute to the gene pool who in past centuries would have died.

*I* shouldn't be alive. I've had an appendectomy. You used to die from that. I take thyroid. While it isn't fatal it does make getting pregnant difficult. And it is hereditary. My Mother and my sister have low thyroid. My sister had difficulty getting pregnant because of it. So did my Mother. I have high cholesterol, hypertension and acid reflux. I also have two herniated discs in my lower back. Not contributing to the gene pool was a personal choice. But despite the fact I have no allegies to speak of (not even rag weed registers) I choose not to have children.

But we now have the means to extend the lifespans of humans who used to die as children to the point that they are old enough to marry and have families.

Sickle cell comes immediately to mind but I'm sure the MDs on the board can think of other diseases and illnesses that used to be fatal. An argument can be made that our progresses in medicine and safety have weakened us as a species, not made us stronger. Or, as we become mentally stronger (smarter), we become physically weaker.

 

Are you (or were they) quite sure the hippo was killing his own offspring? That generally does not happen. In many species a male will kill the offspring of other males, so that the female will go into estrus and be receptive of him. It is very rare for animals to eat their own offspring except when food is so scarce that the offspring would be unable to survive. In that case, the parent relieves itself of the need to expend energy caring for the offspring, and derives some nutritional value from it. But under normal conditions, animals will eat the offspring of unrelated individuals, but not their own. And since hippos are herbivores, the male would not have eaten the juveniles, so that would not have been a motive.