Palin defends captive trophy hunts, bear baiting, and steel-jawed legold traps

[kskiska]

From the newsletter of the Humane Society Legislative Fund

(snip)

Palin is not only a lifetime member of the National Rifle Association, but is also a close ally of Safari Club International. These radical groups don’t represent rank-and-file hunters, but instead lobby on behalf of their elitist, wealthy members to defend despicable and unsporting practices such as captive trophy hunts, bear baiting, and steel-jawed legold traps—practices that real hunters agree are inhumane and unacceptable.

And the Palin Administration, in lock-step with these extreme anti-conservationists, has waged an all-out war on Alaska’s predators to artificially boost the populations of moose and caribou for trophy hunters. Palin has tried to pass legislation making it easier for state officials to gun down wolves and bears from the sky, and even offered a $150 bounty for the left foreleg of each dead wolf as an economic incentive for pilots and aerial gunners to kill more of the animals.

(snip)

Since Alaska is not protecting its wolves from aerial hunting, the U.S. Congress has stepped in and is now considering the Protect America’s Wildlife (PAW) Act, which would close a loophole in federal law that allows the shooting of animals from airplanes and helicopters. But Gov. Palin has attacked that effort, too, and used her office to criticize the federal legislation. She wrote in a press release that the bill’s author “doesn’t understand rural Alaska” and “doesn’t comprehend wildlife management in the North.”

This new video from our friends at the Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund reveals shocking images from the brutal practice of aerial hunting, and shows the world just what Gov. Palin has championed at the state and federal levels. But that’s only one part of the story. It’s not just wolves, of course, who have been the targets of Palin's outdated policies, but also the Arctic region’s iconic polar bears, the 21st Century’s canaries in the mineshaft who are teetering on the brink of extinction.

more…
http://hslf.typepad.com/political_animal/2008/09/palin.html

[The_Casual_Observer]

1. Let's try those out on the entire palin clan!

[liberalmuse]

2. Worse than Cheney.

*&#$^&#^&&))_%!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[eowyn_of_rohan]

36. And as cold & inhumane as bu$h. Both get pleasure from killing

Whether it's Sarah Piehole with her heartless disregard for suffering animals (inc. the polar bears :cry:), who enjoys shooting defenseless animals from her helicopter (YEE Haw! - load er up, boys!), or georgy bu$h whose friend, Terry Throckmorton, said that when the frogs came out after a rain, he and dubya would get BB guns and pick 'em off, or for a REAL kick would stick firecrackers in their butts and throw them in the air and watch them blow up.

How can they be compassionate to the suffering of people? We know they are NOT by their personal histories and their political records.

[opihimoimoi]

3. The Peeps are too brainwashed with glitze, slogans, USA USA, Nationalism

to figure this out by themselves...perhaps a few now and then...perhaps a flood of conversions to freer thinking.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=naXqE4dTxPA&NR=1

This is what we gonna get if they win.....coat hangers and all....ROE reversal.....etc....all bad....

[texastoast]

12. Must work hard. Must give money,

And I know ways without the coathangers. Wonder if they will make the produce department at your nearby grocery store illegal.

[opihimoimoi]

16. She is Shallow and Hollow...all Huffed and Puffed Up like a Baloon Fish

She is outta touch with REALITY and livin in the Past....

[gblady]

4. Rachael talked about this...

on her show today. Had someone on there...sorry, I missed the name...
but he was talking about how a bill that Palin wanted to push through on this
would give peeps $150 to anyone who brought in the hacked off left foot of the wolf they killed...
I guess that measure didn't pass...

but kinda gives a clue into the mind of this sick woman.

[ComplimentarySwine]

5. I don't see the big deal with hunting from a plane

Whether you kill and endangered animal from the air, or from the ground, what difference does it make? It's still dead, isn't it? If they want to preserve animals, shouldn't this legislation be taking on the killing of endangered animals regardless of from where the shooter is shooting?

[TxBlue]

27. Aerial Killing like Caged Shooting - Not Fair

Hunting used to be on foot so animal had some chance.

Really wouldn't be fair unless you arm the animal with gun also. It's like those hunts drunk Ch e n y goes on to shoot caged birds feed by hand. Rather sporting, NOT.

[lukasahero]

34. Clean kill vs torture

Kill for sport/fun vs. hunting for food/sustenance.

The wolves are not usually killed by the shot fired from the planes. Most of the time they are only injured and the helicopter is then used to chase the injured animal to its slow and painful death.

Additionally, the wolves are not being killed for food, they are being killed to artificially inflate the elk/moose populations a) so hunters can kill them instead and b) to make the environment look healthier to support outside interests (i.e. - oil)

Unless we want to start discussing how every bit of meat that ends up on our own tables requires the death of an animal (and America is not ready for that discussion be it right or wrong), it is useless to try and frame this as the "killing animals is wrong" debate. A lot of people in America are ok with hunting and with killing animals to eat but even most of those people don't believe the animal in question should be tortured in that pursuit. THAT is a debate we can win.

Oh, and the Alaskans wolves were never put on the Endangered Species List. http://www.defenders.org/programs_and_policy/wildlife_conservation/imperiled_species/wolves/wolf_recovery_efforts/alaska_wolves/background/index.php

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

43. This aerial hunting is canned hunting

The plane spots the wolf in the open tundra where the animal has no chance and no place to hide. Most of the kills don't occur from the plane. The shooter merely scares the wolf into running and running in circles until it's exhausted. The small plane lands and the hunters pick off the exhausted animals when they can barely move. No difference really from canned hunters who buy old lions and zebras from zoos or circuses, pen them, and let shooters blast away at unmoving targets.

[WindRiverMan]

6. I have lived off the land for many years in Alaska, Colorado, and Wyoming

I have a garden, I hunt, I fish, I raise an animal for slaughter now and then and keep a few chickens. I would even consider a milk cow but dont really have the set up for one. For me, it's self-preservation. I know where my food comes from, how it was killed, and how it was processed. I don't worry about mad cow, salmonella, steroids, antibiotics etc. It is a choice my family and I made, and we keep it. It is healthy and It also keeps my grocery bill down quite a bit.

In my opinion, high fence hunting is incredibly disgusting and I cannot fathom how anyone justifies it. The animals are gentically selected for superior antler growth, placed often in a 40 acre enclosure, and then bidded out for huge dollars so somone can shoot it to take the horns and cape. Often, they do not even take the meat of the animal, which in my opinion is just plain criminal.

Safari Club is a joke, as they encourage high fence hunting and keep records of the size of the animal taken. I also see no reason to bait bears. In all honesty, I have eaten bear many times, and I do not particullarly care for the meat. It is strong, greasy, with lots of gristle. Not good table fare in my opinion. However, I am no fan of mutton either, some people love it. so to each their own. If a person wants a bear, there is no reason it has to be baited. They can be spotted and stalked like any other animal. However, many of our so called "hunters" lack the skills needed to take a bear. They do not practice their skills, are fat and out of shape, and lack the proper equipment, so they cheat.

I know many people like me, who do hunt and fish for the meat. Unfortunately, I know many others who kill just for the "experience" as they say. The meat is never used, and the horns and hide are often the only part of the animal that these folks use. How sad. I have always felt that taking a life, and make no mistake about it, it is taking a life, is very serious business and should never ever be done for vanity reasons.

I have taken moose and caribou in Alaska, and I have seen plenty of wolves. One of the most exciting experiences of my life was being in the middle of a wolf pack while they howled all around me. I was sitting down fleshing a caribou hide when they came out of nowhere. They were very close, and I never saw a wolf while they did. The orchestra went on for over ten minutes. The aerial hunting in Alaska is due to a bunch of people (some natives as well) who desperately want to kill without doing the work required to get such an animal. They want to run their river boats up and down the rivers hoping to bump into a moose. They want to artifically boost the population so they can kill these animals without having to work too hard.

I spent 12 days in the bush living in a tent and walking well over six miles a day for my last moose. That moose gave us well over five hunred pounds of meat, and we ate every last piece of it. I tanned the hide and use it to tie flies for my next fishing outing and gave the rest to a friend of mine who uses the hides to make traditional clothing and beadwork.

There is no excuse for these positions, and sadly, what was once a way to get extra meat for the table has now become a badge of honor among a certain segement of our population. A trophy class bull elk head can and will bring well over five thousand dollars on the open market. Hotels, restuarants, and just some weird people cannot get enough of it. I raise and train imported German hunting dogs, and I cannot tell you how many guys have asked to purchase my dog from me. The fact is, they are too lazy to train the animal on their own. They would rather pay me for mine. Glad to say my dogs are happily sleeping at my feet while I type this. They know fall is in the air though, and their excitement is palpable.

I could tell stories of some of the jokers I have had the misfortune to meet in my days afield, but I won't. Some things are better left unsaid.

[Cleita]

8. I know exactly what you are saying.

Real lovers of the wilderness whether they are hunters or conservationists have nothing but contempt for these trophy hunters and frankly amateurs. They have no experience of the wilderness except to go in it in hunting season and pretty much litter and trash the place until it's over, not to mention what they have done to their karma in their utter lack of respect for life.

[malaise]

14. Lovely post

I can't believe bear baiting is practiced anywhere on the planet. That was banned in Britain in the 19th century. Where is the USPCA on cruelty to animals.

[Cleita]

15. It's still done up in the Northwest.

The worst offender of the cruelest aspects of the sport is in Idaho.

[malaise]

20. Shaking head

Humans are the most evil animals on our planet.

[riverdeep]

29. Thanks for that reply.

I don't personally hunt, but do eat meat. And with type of hunting you describe, versus the horrible life of typical factory farmed animals, well, I'd rather live a free, open life and one day face your gun, then the life of a factory farmed animal.

For the record, I go to extreme lengths to avoid factory farmed animals in my food. Even though that's expensive, I just eat it less often.

[Cleita]

7. This more than anything makes me really dislike what she and

her ilk stand for.

[Raine]

10. Me too, if for nothing else I would

hate her for her blood lust. :-(

[Lorien]

19. Yep. I loathe hunting to begin with, but filth like her doesn't belong

among civilized people. She's a low life; less evolved than anything she slaughters.

[ColbertWatcher]

9. Kick and rec for more attention. n/t

[KelleyKramer]

11. I'm a hunter from the south.. canned hunts are for cheaters

People like that make me want to puke.

And a lot of them are just lazy rich assholes who are basically paying for a trophy that they can tell their rich friends 'yeah, I bagged that one myself"

You may have killed the animal yourself, but dont try to call yourself a hunter.

[aikoaiko]

13. I fish -- I can't criticize.

I've had fish that I didn't eat mounted for display.

I either bop fish in the head or let them suffocate in the cooler.

When I catch a big shark, we bring it in close after it's tired out and I shoot it in the head.

eta: Oh and I fish stocked steams and lakes.

[Cleita]

17. My husband was a fisherman. He really enjoyed it. I didn't.

He was mostly catch and release though. Every now and then a nice catch made it on our dinner plate. He never kept a fish for a trophy or just kill it and walk away. There was one fall when we helped the salmon to migrate up their stream to spawn because the water was too low that year for them to do so. They do die after they spawn so people can sometimes get calloused about the dying. However, they feed the bears and birds.

[NNN0LHI]

31. Why the fuck would you shoot a shark in the head?

Watched Jaws too many times or what?

Don

[aikoaiko]

33. Well, because they bite hard when you try to pick them up in a put them in the boat.

Shark taste good, too.

[flvegan]

18. Of course that slag defends it.

That's what she does.

[DeepModem Mom]

21. Thank you. K&R

[LibDemAlways]

22. Her parents' living room looks like a taxidermy shop. These

people are sick.

[kskiska]

24. The Mooseburgers' humble abode

[LibDemAlways]

28. It would give me the creeps just stepping into that place.

Bear pelts nailed to the walls? What kind of whack-jobs decorate with dead animals all over the place? This isn't one or two hunting trophies. It's walls full.

Sick. Sick. Sick.

[EFerrari]

23. I hate this stupid destructive woman. n/t

[TxBlue]

25. CNN showing video of Aerial Killing supported by Palin

CNN on Anderson Cooper is showing videos of aerial killing.

She's a sick, control freak. Wolves are special and shouldn't be killed. They are honest animals which you can't say that about her!

[Kolesar]

41. wow. The story went mainstream already.

We can ultimately leverage this to end aerial pursuit of predators.

[TxBlue]

26. Biologist says Wolves do NOT threaten Moose or Elk population

THAT woman is so ignorant. If you kill wolves they will just breed more like coyotes do. How stupid can one be???

She pays $150 for left wolf paw. How sick. Mooselini, indeed.

[riverdeep]

30. This kind of thing is a remnant of the old old frontier mentality.

Or at least some parts of it. They would shoot buffalo from the trains in the old West, and just leave the carcasses there to rot- it was a game, and that's what much of this is. Millions of buffalo gone.

Other parts of the country have learned to coexist with top predators, if a state as large and wild and non-populous as Alaska isn't doing that, there's something really wrong.

[eowyn_of_rohan]

37. For all his good qualities, Teddy Roosevelt was a typical human supremacist of the era

He said he needed to get out west and shoot him some buffalo before they were all gone :crazy:

[judasdisney]

32. Perfect issue to distract us farther from the impending Great Depression economy.

They certainly did pick the right VP candidate.

[lukasahero]

35. Because you know, no one is capable of discussing two things at a time

:eyes:

They picked a candidate who dismisses the recommendations of scientists and wildlife biologists. They picked a candidate who believes it's ok to torture animals. Of course, if this doesn't sound familiar to you, perhaps you haven't been paying enough attention to our current administration.

[eowyn_of_rohan]

39. i want a president with compassion and heart to lead me in the next Great Depression

Thanks to threads like this, I knos Piehole and McCain don't pass the litmus test.

[eowyn_of_rohan]

38. I just watched part of a YouTube video on aerial hunting in alaska

I had to turn it off - It is heartbreaking to watch. I truly HATE anyone who would do this - Sarah piehole is a monster without a conscience.

[eowyn_of_rohan]

40. shoot this

:kick:

[ShadesOfGrey]

47. k&r

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

42. Bush and Poppy are lifetime members of the Safari Club International

and Bush was named "Governor Of The Year" in 1999 by the Safari Club, because Texas became a canned hunting paradise under his administration. Poppy went to their annual banquet in Arizona to accept the trophy. The Safari Club International is infested with Republicans and gives heavily to Republican causes.

[SteppingStone]

44. And her anti-wildlife stance gets worse...

I've been reading about the Katmai National Park habituated bear slaughter and it breaks my heart. This woman is the lowest level of pond scum!

http://www.grizzlybay.org/KatmaiPreserve.html

Palin supports shooting habituated bears even though the majority of Alaskans (even sport hunters) are opposed to hunting them.

[SteppingStone]

45. Not only bears and wolves... she hates whales too!

She want's Beluga whales off the endangered list because their current standing interferes with her oil exploitation goals.

Oh My Gawdess! I never thought I'd ever dislike someone more than I dislike Bush! Enter Palin...:puke:

[ShadesOfGrey]

46. I couldn't finish watching it because I know how it ends.

:cry: :cry:

We HAVE to win this election! Planet Earth is depending on us!