Palin and the Wolves

The people on the left have a view of wildlife which is based on decades of propaganda and watching Disney movies that depict animals as lovable and funny characters. Letting the wolf population run out of control doesn't help the wolves or the people. Selective harvesting of wildlife is a good thing. in my area we have an exploding deer population. The number of people who hunt has declined. The people who wanted to eliminate hunting are now complaining about the deer problem. They are foraging in peoples yards, their garbage, eating their flower beds and creating havoc on the highways. I see a dead deer next to the road almost every day. The animal rights people don't have a clue. The polar bear population has tripled in the last thirty years and they are creating huge problems in Alaska. Maybe we should force the animal rights people to adopt a polar bear or wolf for release in their neighborhood. Maybe a dose of reality would teach the nitwits something.

I was an Alaskan resident for about 13 years and travelled the entire state as a consulting engineer. The majority of my travels were in the interior and the north of the Arctic Circle. I tremendously enjoyed the opportunities to witness the culture and the people in the bush villages. I did observe a number of times blatant wolf kills of wildlife and village dogs and anything else that was living that stayed outside that particular night. I was in three villages "the morning after" on 3 to 4 different times where ALL the dogs in the villages had been killed. Not eaten just killed. The same with moose and caribou as a "training exercise" according to local people. The village residents were effectively hostage by their own admission. I also saw several dozen wolves that had been killed with the aerial hunt during the same period of time. Quite a surprise to me - they were not starving or even thin - much to contrary. The majority of the residents in the dozens of villages that were near wolf populations very much agreed with the control program. The state of Alaska should be governed by it's people and the elected officials not by a minority of activists outside of the state or even within the state.

I am no friend of Sarah. But if they weren't hunting the wolves in Alaska, the left-wingers would complain that she is trying to starve the Indians (I mean Native Americans) by allowing the wolves to eat all the game. Any program that annoys the easterners who know nothing about the west can't be all bad.

I lived in Alaska for many years and I know that I best way to balance predator and prey is to properly set the number of hunting permits allowed each year in order to sustain the caribou population and other hunted species populations. Man and wolves are both predators and most Alaskan hunters do not depend upon what they hunt for as food . Generally only Native Alaskans fall into that catagory and then not even all of them are dependant soley upon hunting for their food. For Alaska the permits are a huge money-making program and the majority of hunters (mostly from airplanes) are doctors and dentiists and other wealthy people. These people hunt purely for recreation so the argument that Alaskans depend upon the wildlife for survival is a specious argument which could certainly be rebutted with good investigative reporting.
I hope to see some of it in the future.

Shane

I became personally involved in the aerial wolf hunting controversy during the 1960s in Alaska. I flew light aircraft, lived many years in the northern bush, hunted and trapped and had numerous encounters with wolves. While I appreciate wolves, I do not consider them to be somehow more noble than any other specie of wildlife. I support the taking of wolves by conventional hunting and trapping. That said, I consider the aerial harvest of wolves, particularly with fixed wing aircraft, except in rare and unusual circumstances, to be generally counterproductive and a blight on the legitimate practice of hunting in general.

Yes, wolves and humans compete for the same wildlife resources. However, wolves tend to cull out the weaker and often diseased members of a prey population. Humans tend to focus on shooting the more prime members of a prey population. Wolves serve as natural herders of ungulates (moose, deer, caribou, etc.) helping to prevent overgrazing and deterioration of habitat. The balance between prey and predators is dynamic with populations of both fluctuating over time. This is both natural and desirable. I hunted moose and caribou to feed my wife and me. The skins and sinew of these animals were used in the construction of items of clothing and rawhide lashing for sleds. I never felt that wolves were somehow depriving me or others of a fair share of the wildlife. The money to pay for helicopters in wolf control programs is simply a form of government welfare that could be better used in support of truly deserving causes.

For anyone who believes that there are too many wolves in Alaska competing with people for food, please read Farley Mowat's book Never Cry Wolf. In it, he documented the fact that wolves mainly thrive on RODENTS for food. Moreover, wolves are not CARNIVORES, but rather, OMNIVORES like US. And grizzly bears. Some people just want any reason they can drum up to kill whatever animal they want next on thier target list.

I have been discussing and fighting this wierd state blood lust for at least eight years. Before Palin and with Murkowski when he was Govenor and now Senator. His logic was that if the wolves were "culled" it would increase the number of Moose and Moose hunting permits cost more money. But, it did not work. The moose, without pressure to maintain population after losses to the wolves, actually decreased in population .

What people need to remember is that thr wolves live on Federal Land and are protected by The Federal government, or should be. (They tend to look away ow) Remember also that wolf hunting by air was defeated twice in non binding referendums in Alaska BEFORE Palin began offering a bounty on left front legs (adult or pups).

This is the last of the most genetically pure wolf species. Wolves are extremely intelligent (only the Alpha Male and ALpha Female breed, the rest are "caretakers and assistant hunters". They are smarter than humans, including the Govenors daughter in that regard. They live in family units and keep the rest of the ecosystem in balance.

This "hunt" is the most careless disregard of responsibility for maintaining a wilderness on record. It shows how a politician can go against the will of the voters if they pay enough for it. It also shows that personal interestes outweigh the good of the citizens who could make millions on tourist trade that LOVES to wee the wolves.

It is truly a sickening dispaly of human cruelty and ignorance on maintenance of an asset they are blessed to have.

I am writing to protest Sarah Palin and the state of Alaska???s outrageous and brutal aerial wolf slaughter. Furthermore, I will not travel to Alaska nor spend my money on any Alaskan goods or services until this barbaric practice is legally prohibited. I am sharing my opinions and recommendations to BOYCOTT ALASKA with everyone I know in the United States and abroad. As noted by many others on this page, man does not need to interfere with the balance of nature. Aerial shooting is used for sport and greed and has nothing to do with maintaining a natural balance between predator and prey. As a keystone species, the wolf is of utmost importance to culling out the weakest of its prey, rendering the resulting herds more biologically fit for survival. In addition, they keep ungulates on the move reducing overgrazing and destruction of forests and valleys. Legal hunting should be allowed, Archaic, inhumane forms of sport must be outlawed.
San Diego, CA



You have the power to stop this horrendous and inhumane assault against wildlife. Please take a stand.

WIth 800,000 caribou and 200,000 moose, I hardly see how 11,000 wolves are making a significant dent in their population. Also what this article fails to mention is that aerial gunning is illegal under federal law. Palin and her cronies are using a loophole under wildlife management. It's a hack job.

I'm a member of Defenders of Wildlife, but we all need to write to our constituents and have them sign the Protect Americas Wildlife Act or the PAW Act. It will totally eliminate such atrocities as aerial gunning. Nature *does* cycle out predator prey relationships, hence there are fewer wolves than ungulates.

Sarah Palin is a criminal, and she needs to be stopped immediately

I was a bush pilot in Alaska in the 50's and early 60's. The U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service offered a $50 bounty for wolves, usually taken by aircraft. The fur also produced about $50 for the shooter. Soon after, a Univ. of Alaska grad student produced a seven-year study that showed that wolves did not impact caribou populations and, amonst other findings, that wolves focussed principally on sick or injured caribou and during lean years did not mate. The bounty system was ended based on this finding. What happened to this idea? When I flew over a large caribou migration, I could see a few grizzly bear, a few sets of wolves and thousands of caribou...did I get any sense of a decimation of the caribou herd? Not in the slightest. What I fear with the latest attack on wolves is a batch of techno-bureaucratic nature scientists getting their way. Or, a group of politically connected hunters wanting that wolf notch on their collective rifles. Whatever is the motivating source...it is full of crap. I saw nature working and the wolves were part of the wonderful balance.

Palin learned very young on how to sell out your best friend. She uses her political office to acheive an agenda carved out by her political boosters. She can't stand the title of Public Servant. She's a self serving glutton only out for her own skin and not that of the common public citizen. Alaska, I know it was purchased from Mexico back in 1854 for one million dollars, LOL. I can see Hawaii from my backyard window in Arizona, LOL.