I’ll Get You My Pretty…and That Little Wolf Too! Palin’s War on Wildlife Continues…
13 03 2009
I have used this term in the past, but never before has the phrase ”Palin’s war on wildlife” seemed so chillingly accurate. It is well known that Sarah Palin has stacked the board of game with “harvesters” while shunning conservationists. But, the detailed article in Alaska Dispatch by conservationist and author Bill Sherwonit is absolutely chilling. I don’t say that lightly.
Most Alaskans understand and respect subsistence hunting. I know people for whom moose was, and is, a staple food that carries their family through the winter. And most Alaskans don’t frown too much at some degree of sport hunting, because it’s understood that we, as humans, are predators too, and we somehow fit into the amazing ecosystem that surrounds us. The balance of nature is generally respected by hunters and non-hunters alike, and these two groups tend to have an uneasy, but workable alliance. At least, that’s how it’s been in the past. But now, in the spirit of free market sport hunting in the Mat-Su Valley, the Palin administration has figured out how hunters can compete even more effectively with natural wild predators. Kill them. Kill a LOT of them.
The Board of Game and Department of Fish and Game aim - or at least hope – to kill up to 60 percent of the 2,500 to 3,000 black bears that, in their opinion, prey upon an unacceptably high number of moose calves in Unit 16B, a huge area that extends from the foothills of the Alaska Range to Cook Inlet and from the Yentna River southwest to Redoubt Creek (which flows off the rumbling Redoubt Volcano).
Sixty percent! If that’s not a slaughter, what is? (The state admits it is unlikely to reach that goal, but why not shoot for the moon, eh?)
There’s more.
In discussing the unprecedented use of snares to catch and then kill black bears, Board member Ted Spraker talked about the inevitable “collateral damage,” in this instance involving brown bears. It is, of course, a term he borrowed from the military.
And Ben Grussendorf, the most moderate member of the Board (which isn’t saying much), described his initial gut reaction to several proposed changes this way: “Man, this is a jihad against black bears by paramilitary groups.”
Welcome, once again, to wildlife management under Gov. Sarah Palin, where everything possible is being done to kill off the predators that compete with Alaska’s human hunters for moose and caribou. No matter that many, perhaps most, of these people live in urban areas and participate in “sport” hunts.
In fact many of the ones most interested in Unit 16 moose live in Palin country, the Mat-Su Valleys. These folks – and lots of Anchorage-area hunters, too – simply want to fill their freezers with wild game and by God the Palin administration is going to do everything it can to help ‘em out, short of controlling the weather.
The Board also voted to extend the bear baiting season in Palin’s Unit 16. And they’re also gearing up to start gassing wolf pups in their dens. Probably makes it a lot easier to dispose of them that way, than waiting for them to grow up so they can get shot from helicopters.
Apparently the person who holds the newly created position with the Orwellian name “Assistant Commissioner for Abundance Management,” Corey Rossi, was able to assuage the concerns about these new policies by assuring the board that it would create an equally Orwellian “attitude of stewardship”. Did I mention that Assistant Commissioner Rossi was a good friend of the Palins before he got this job?
And don’t think that the only people affected by these new policies are semi-lazy middle-aged guys in flannel shirts who want to be able to go out with their buddies and be guaranteed to bag a moose without a whole lot of looking around. Nope, this is a family affair. The Board voted 4-2 to let children from the ages of 10-15 come along for the fun killing bears, since public participation will be required to reach the enormous kill goal.
Sherwonit’s final point, and it’s a good one, is the fact that hardly any attention is being paid to these issues. Alaska conservationists may be feeling beaten down, or marginalized or tired. The mainstream media may be feeling like nobody cares, and the only people they hear from are the ones who sneer at the “tree huggers” and the “radical environmentalists.”
I recall several years ago, when massive tourist boycotts were called for because of the aerial wolf hunting controversy. Alaskans got all riled up and distressed because, they said, these policies didn’t represent the average Alaskan’s opinion. Why punish the regular folks who make a living from tourism because of a few people at the top? So, where are the regular people who are outraged by this? If these policies do not reflect your values, it is an obligation to step forward and say so. There’s an old adage, “silence is consent.”
Sherwonit goes on to say:
I also remain discouraged that, with few exceptions, Alaska’s conservation groups remain out of the picture. I suppose that with global warming, oil and gas industry activities, clean-energy initiatives and other big-picture items, their plates are pretty full and perhaps overflowing. But this new push for “abundance management” – the latest buzzwords for intensive management and predator control – is way out of control.
Only a few greenie organizations even commented on the proposals considered at this meeting. Even fewer sent people to testify; and most of them quickly vanished afterward.
For much of the last weekend, I sat in the Dena’ina Center surrounded by big-game hunting guides, trappers and hunters, state wildlife managers, and Board of Game members and their support staff. At most a handful of us opposed to the state’s current wildlife-management regime bore witness to the machinations, and only one of those few represented a conservation group, Wade Willis of Defenders of Wildlife.
Perhaps the Palin administration is counting on the fact that if eco-tourists boycott Alaska travel (if this ever gets picked up by the mainstream media) it will be counterbalanced by those who want to come here to kill off some of the “abundant” wildlife. Or, perhaps she just feels like tipping the scales so folks in her home district can keep themselves and their kids entertained by killing not only more moose, but more moose, and bears too.
Either way, what’s clearly needed here is dissemination of information. So for readers out there who have blogs, or are in the media, or who can write letters to the editor, or tell friends, or fire up your local conservation groups, this is your official invitation to help those of us in Alaska who see this “management for abundance” for what it really is – a war on Alaska’s wildlife.
[And once again, a hat tip to flyinureye, who graces the Mudflats blog with talent, wit, and the undisputed ability to be "worth a thousand words."]
March 14th, 2009 at 10:48 AM
I will try to post that comment on HuffPo…grrrrr….vile creature….
March 14th, 2009 at 10:49 AM
@austintx
More like F**ked up chuck
March 14th, 2009 at 10:54 AM
I do wish a few of those East Coast wackos, who know little or nothing about Alaska, will slip through the boycott and, upon departing our state, leave for home with a wolf under each arm.”
– Chuck Heath / Wasilla
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A perfect example of your education tax dollars NOT at work!! Lol. Neanderthal man and his bleeding knuckles. I think we should let the healthy and genetically strong wolves ‘have at it’ and weed out the genetically inferior of our species, like above. No guns or knives allowed, – just past-puss man versus cunning wolf. We could all leave for home with the dollops of his miniscule brain in the palm of one hand (assuming, of course, that the little fella has a brain at all!)
March 14th, 2009 at 10:55 AM
“pasty-puss man” that should read
March 14th, 2009 at 11:01 AM
I, for one, resent his ignorance about what we know about Alaska. Having ties to Alaska since the goldrush of 1898 and having lost some of my ancestors in the Princess Sophia disaster of 1918 on Vanderbilt reef in Lynn Canal and having been to Alaska many times, starting with the 1960’s, I gather this fool knows little of Alaska’s history and certainly sullies the history of the natives of that fine land by his encouragement of the destruction of its natural resources. He is a prime example of someone who needs to learn from the past and to look at older countries whose ‘big game’ consists now of birds, foxes, and domesticated ungulates where bozo brains such as himself can go and ‘bag a deer’ while out ‘pseudo-hunting’ on a fenced enclosure. Sorry, little man, you are one of the world’s losers. Grow up, grow a brain, and use it to evolve.
March 14th, 2009 at 11:14 AM
Isn’t chuck from Idaho ?? Maybe he would be more at home at one of those neo-nazi , white supremacist enclaves in the woods there. I understand there are several. NO offense to clear thinking Idahoans(?).
March 14th, 2009 at 11:16 AM
Vlad – creationists are unevolved………just sayin’……he ain’t changin’.
March 14th, 2009 at 11:34 AM
What do you think of the commerical that’s been airing with the AK Native man telling people to stay out of their wildlife management stuff? You know, the one like the littering commerical from the 70s with the tear running down the Native American’s cheek while he sits on his horse above a major highway? This guy has a tear too. What do the AK Natives think of Palin’s policies? They seem skewed toward the sportsman, but she touts them as being good for subsistence lifestyles as well.
I don’t see how gassing wolf pups can be spun to sound anything less than amoral, but I’m aware that’s never stopped Palin from trying.
March 14th, 2009 at 11:53 AM
Here is a bizarre story from Alaska Dispatch.
Racist threatened to kill NY Gov. because of Palin’s remarks
http://www.alaskadispatch.com/palin-watch/10-palin-watch/990-racist-threatened-to-kill-paterson-because-of-palins-remarks-which-may-or-may-not-have-been-racist-
*big irony alert* He’s a christian who doesn’t like hunters!
wingnuts!
March 14th, 2009 at 12:00 PM
No offense to Real Christian’s intended…
Here is from Amazon about his book “This is one of the best books ever written on the subject of animal welfare. Scully, a journalist and former speechwriter for President George W. Bush, chooses to fight on his own ground, and he rightly argues that the important thing is not insisting upon equal “rights” for animals but in treating them with a modicum of respect and dignity. His book is as close as a philosophy can come to representing “animal rights” goals while not proclaiming animals to be equal in status to humans, as do classic works like Peter Singer’s Animal Liberation.”
Wonder what he would think of GINO killing Wolves and their cubs and Mama bears and their cubs???? just sayin’…..
March 14th, 2009 at 12:02 PM
austintx (11:16:55) :
Vlad – creationists are unevolvedâ?¦â?¦â?¦just sayinâ??â?¦â?¦he ainâ??t changinâ??.
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Lol – that’s called ’selective cherry-picking reasoning’ – Little mr. heath has evolved away from the fig leaf of Adam (although in heath’s case it was probably a one-leaf-clover) into today’s chemically-created clothing. Surely, a brain can’t be far behind.
March 14th, 2009 at 12:04 PM
austintx (11:16:55) :
Vlad – creationists are unevolved………
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I couldn’t agree more……..
March 14th, 2009 at 12:07 PM
Sorry, Scully is the one who wrote GINO’s speech, not threatened the Mayor. Its kind of confusing there, sorry, sorry, sorry!
March 14th, 2009 at 2:34 PM
@Larry K
The only way to stop this is starve them. An economic boycott of Alaska. Do not take a cruise, don’t go fishing, hiking, camping. If you are going to spend money on those activities do it in Canada or the lower 48. The cruise ship industry is the big money maker don’t get on a boat in Alaska.
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I agree…hit ‘em in the pocketbook where it hurts! That always works to make a change, but you’re dealing with a psycho named palin…no telling there.
March 14th, 2009 at 2:42 PM
hey, crystalwolf aka caligrl………how’d you change your kaleidoscope thingy to that cool wolf picture? I tried to change mine, but I’m having trouble, so I must be leaving out a step…or two.
@austintx……I heard that also, too about Idaho…never been there to verify.
I betcha palin would fit right back in though. Too bad she was relocated to Alaska…feel sorry for you guys with all this negative attention.
March 14th, 2009 at 3:07 PM
“Shadow’s HeartNo Gravatar (10:33:32) : I’ve been trying to find that story about Palin’s father and Wooten. Now I’m wondering if it was a spin on the father shooting a wolf, wounding it and then supposedly Wooten chased it down with a snowmobile and shot it three more times which I guess is illegal, chasing a wolf and shooting from a snowmobile that is. I read so much on Sarah Palin during those first few months she came on the scene my head was spinning. But I had to read the shooting it in the head thing somewhere its not something one would make up so my search continues.”
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You can find this under Troopergate. Wooten explains what Sarah’s father did in the police interview transcripts…. Sarah’s father (the great hunter) invites Wooten to go wolf hunting on snow mobiles. Mr Heath shoots wolf in the back, injuring it. He fires again, missing it. The wolf runs off but Heath chases it on his snowmobile and runs over it. Wooten then kills it with his police depart issued pistol.
March 14th, 2009 at 3:14 PM
This whole thing just sickens me. Seems as though SP will do whatever she can to destroy the environment and wildlife.
For many years, we’ve been looking forward to RVing in Alaska, to see American’s last wilderness and enjoy the abundant wildlife. I have to say, though, that since that awful day when John McCain plucked her out of relative obscurity and put her in the national limelight, we’re not that anxious to make that trip. And now that I’m finding out how anxious she is to kill off the majority of wildlife, I guess she’s not interested in tourist dollars.
Thanks, Mudflats, for the informative article.
March 14th, 2009 at 4:55 PM
I’m not giving up. I have already contacted Salazar and tonight I also contacted Obama – felt I had to after reading that article in the Post. If he knows how we really feel about this, perhaps he can get Salazar to leave all of the wolves alone. In memory of my late and much beloved wolf hybrid Maggie, I feel I have to do something for her wild kindred.
March 14th, 2009 at 5:00 PM
Lainey(14:42:09) go to the FAQ on the top of the page AKM explains it, but you have to sign up a Gravatar and upload your pic, then it is linked by your email address in wordpress and some other blogging. A PIA but worth it.
You can upload more than one so you can switch. I had a wolf wearing a Santa hat for Christmas
March 14th, 2009 at 5:03 PM
Maria from Landover Hills, MD-Yes I have also contacted Salazar, DoW, And someone in Alaska? I think from the wolfsong site.
“In memory of my late and much beloved wolf hybrid Maggie”
I’m sorry you lost a great and loyal friend….
March 14th, 2009 at 5:56 PM
I just got a email from wolfsong and they posted AKM’s blog to their website
http://wolfsongnews.org/news/Alaska_current_events_3049.html
March 14th, 2009 at 5:58 PM
I just got a email from wolfsong…they posted AKM’s blog on their site:
http://wolfsongnews.org/news/Alaska_current_events_3049.html
March 14th, 2009 at 11:18 PM
I’m really not a troll I just lost my shortcut to this site and for the life of me couldn’t remember the name,thought it was mud puppies LOL.This is one of the best blogs I have ever been on,not that i have blogged very long,Now I know why Mr Heath stuck up for her he is just as bad. If it wasn’t for this site and ADN to some extent none of us in the lower 49 would know what was really going on up i Alaska.Even with family up there we don’t get into these kinds of thinks it is mostly family stuff. Love the witch picture by the way.How can some one claim to be pro-life and kill baby animals.It would be different if it was grown animals for food but how can this woman live with herself and Mr heath How does he live with him selfafter what he did,That whole family needs to be sent I don’t know maybe to the north pole and let them kill what they can find