Call of the Wild
A wildlife group's ad attacks Palin for supporting the shooting of wolves from airplanes. She does, but there's more to it than that.
Summary
A new ad from Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund shows the pursuit and shooting of a wolf from a small plane and tells viewers that Sarah Palin "actively promotes" such killings. It's true that she does, and in 2007 she offered $150 payments for anyone who brought the left forepaw of a wolf to state officials. The ad calls the practice "brutal and unethical" but doesn't tell the whole story.
Alaskan officials call it "predator control," not aerial hunting, and use it to keep the populations of moose and caribou high for subsistence hunters.
The program is limited to just 9 percent of the state's land mass, or five of 26 Department of Fish and Game districts.
Far from being endangered, as they are in the Lower 48 states, gray wolves number between 7,000 and 11,000 in Alaska.
Analysis
This TV spot isn't for the squeamish, especially not squeamish animal-lovers. Its visuals include sinister-looking photos of Gov. Sarah Palin juxtaposed with footage of a wolf trying to outrun an airplane, then being shot and writhing in pain. Finally we see a small plane taking off, a wolf carcass tied to one of its wing struts.
Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund Ad: "Brutal"
Narrator:
The more voters learn about Sarah Palin, the less there is to like. As Alaska governor, Sarah Palin actively promotes the brutal and unethical aerial hunting of wolves and other wildlife.
On screen text:
Palin promotes brutal aerial hunting of wildlife
Narrator:
Using a low-flying plane, they kill in winter, when there is no way to escape.
Riddled with gunshots, biting at their backs in agony, they die a brutal death.
And Palin even encouraged the cruelty by proposing a $150 bounty for the severed foreleg of each killed wolf.
On screen: Encouraged cruelty with $150 bounty for severed foreleg
Narrator:
And then introduced a bill to make the killing easier.
On screen:
Introduced bill to make killing easier
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Member Comments
Posted By: TruthForward @ 10/17/2008 8:09:49 PM
Comment: McCain is connected to Nazi supporters and Central American death squads.. so says
FoxNews and Washington Post (two Republican news publishers)
http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/10/07/attention-ayers-renew-focus-mccains-iran-contra-connection/
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/07/AR2008100700025.html
The old guy has a long infamous past.
Posted By: Krohn @ 10/09/2008 7:59:07 PM
Comment: They harassed her until she registered to vote six times!:
http://www.foxnews.com/video2/video08.html?maven_referralObject=3145562&maven_referralPlaylistId=&sRevUrl=http://www.foxnews.com/politics/
Posted By: Casino36 @ 10/09/2008 12:49:48 PM
Comment: I think that it's laughable....We kill the wolves and bears (brutally) so that the moose and caribou populations will grow...so that hunters can go out and KILL them. Am I missing something?? Most of these "hunters" are for sport to begin with....the others that kill for food...I can understand. Moose and Caribou are ENORMOUS animals...how many do they need to kill for food? 1, 10, 20 for an average family for one year?
I totally agree with Defenders of Wildlife. If they seem to have a predatory problem with wolves; why not trap them and transport them to the lower 48 states where they are endangered??
I was all for Palin...AT FIRST. Then I was notified by DOW about the aerial hunting, and how Palin encouraged it. I was horrified, especially for her remarks on the $150 for the foot of every wolf slaughtered. THAT IS barbaric and horrifically cruel. That spurred me on to find out more about her...and what I read shocked me. What was McCain THINKING?! WAS HE THINKING?! She's a country bumpkin IDIOT. She's sneaky and just to the left of honest. I DON'T WANT HER IN ANY POSITION OF POWER IN MY COUNTRY.
I'm a Republican and I was all set to vote for McCain, but now....I have no idea of WHOM I'm going to vote for now. I'm thoroughly disgusted and embarrassed to be Republican right now. I wonder if McCain is worried about who he picked as a running mate; if he's as embarrassed and annoyed as the rest of us are. Is it too late to pick someone else??