Your view on Sarah Palin and others' anti-wolf agenda?

[Pimppeter2]

I wouldn't much against people who killed wolves in self-defense or if they were competing for the same resource.

You mean like deer, moose, and caribou?

...Ohh wait

 

[pln9fos]

I wouldn't much against people who killed wolves in self-defense or if they were competing for the same resource.

You mean like deer, moose, and caribou?

...Ohh wait

Like I said in that post, if they are killing wolves for one of those two reasons, I have nothing against them; it's the hunting parties that go out and kill wolves for sport that I have a beef with.

 

[Irishhoodlum]

Many Alaskans depend on hunting for hood and other purposes. Predators kill more than 80 percent of the moose and caribou that die there in a given year.

So we should let humans starve so that wolves aren't mistreated?

While I will admit that I don't know the percentage of kills that wolves make up for deaths in the wild, I know from a National Geographic article about the dilemma with wolves that they only cause about 1% of livestock deaths annually. I don't think we should let humans starve, but I am particularly against the championing of anti-wolf practices because wolves are still a threatened species and still need time to recover. Alaska isn't the only place where this is happening; it's also going on in Yellowstone, Idaho, Montana, and the Rockies. While I sympathize with the Alaskans that hunt for their food, I don't think that there is any just reason for killing wolves in those other areas.

Minnesota alone supports a population of 1,550 to 1,750, and as of 1992, wolves seem to be increasing both in their numbers and distribution.

Inclusion of wolves on the Endangered Species list precludes public havesting of wolves and thus cost the government control program over $100,000 per year to minimize wolf damage to livestock. Some of this money might be saved if wolves could be legally hunted and trapped.

Correlation does not equal causation. Regardless as a resident of Minnesota I've actually read a few articles on the matter and while the cause remains unknown the most popular theory is a warming climate; moose in particular being very sensitive to heat. But you don't see Mrs Palin rallying to save our precious wildlife from this much more serious outside danger, do you? And where was this savior-of-the-wildlife when she was advocating increased oil drilling in protected habitats for animals? Do you honestly think she cares about them? It's self interest driving her statements.


I really don't understand how anyone can believe that she's even somewhat qualified to offer insight into matters that she either doesn't understand or doesn't care about.

 

[Extreme Pajamas]

I actually keep up with the news and can sum it up as follows-

When Sarah Palin WAS the governer of Alaska, she wanted to remove Alaskan Timber Wolves fro the endangered species list so that they could be legally hunted. (usually by helicopter...damn cowards).

This is obviously not something she was capable of doing since conservation orgnizations keep tabs on population and it's really their call whether they think it's even something to discuss.

Timber Wolves from Alaska to the midwest of the U.S are still very much endangered, but I believe you're allowed to hunt them under special circumstances.


I believe in conservationism, so the shoting of wolves so only be permitted if there was some sort of freak population explosion and an unequal number of prey animals in the area (which NEVER happens for those of you who think I'm serious). So should any of Sarah Palin's ideas be taken seriously? No.

I mean jeeze, I'm a poltical libretarian and I can't stand Palin or any of these conservative wackos. They aren't the brightest people in domestic politics(as everyone knows), but then again people like Obama don't really tickle my fancy either -_-

P.S Those of you who are against hunting because you think wolves are cuddly, go watch National Geographic and start looking at wild animals with some respect rather than as plush toys. I like wolves too, but I have enough sense to support firearms use in national parks as a means of limited hunting(deer for example) and for self protection (remember all those people that got mauled by bears? The only ones that survived either got lucky or had weapons on them).

You pretty much summed up my thoughts completely with that post; I wouldn't much against people who killed wolves in self-defense or if they were competing for the same resource, but I just don't get the reasoning behind the areas where wolves are hunted for neither of those reasons.

Ditto.
I already pretty much hate Sarah Palin, in many ways, mostly for her idiotic remarks. What sickens me the most is that she "hunts" animals from a helicopter, wounds the animal, and waits for them to die. Cruel.

 

[Pimppeter2]

Many Alaskans depend on hunting for hood and other purposes. Predators kill more than 80 percent of the moose and caribou that die there in a given year.

So we should let humans starve so that wolves aren't mistreated?

While I will admit that I don't know the percentage of kills that wolves make up for deaths in the wild, I know from a National Geographic article about the dilemma with wolves that they only cause about 1% of livestock deaths annually. I don't think we should let humans starve, but I am particularly against the championing of anti-wolf practices because wolves are still a threatened species and still need time to recover. Alaska isn't the only place where this is happening; it's also going on in Yellowstone, Idaho, Montana, and the Rockies. While I sympathize with the Alaskans that hunt for their food, I don't think that there is any just reason for killing wolves in those other areas.

Minnesota alone supports a population of 1,550 to 1,750, and as of 1992, wolves seem to be increasing both in their numbers and distribution.

Inclusion of wolves on the Endangered Species list precludes public havesting of wolves and thus cost the government control program over $100,000 per year to minimize wolf damage to livestock. Some of this money might be saved if wolves could be legally hunted and trapped.

Correlation does not equal causation. Regardless as a resident of Minnesota I've actually read a few articles on the matter and while the cause remains unknown the most popular theory is a warming climate; moose in particular being very sensitive to heat. But you don't see Mrs Palin rallying to save our precious wildlife from this much more serious outside danger, do you? And where was this savior-of-the-wildlife when she was advocating increased oil drilling in protected habitats for animals? Do you honestly think she cares about them? It's self interest driving these statements.


I really don't understand how anyone can believe that she's even somewhat qualified to offer insight into matters that she either doesn't understand or doesn't care about.

I never said that she was trying to protect the wildlife, I actually said quite the opposite. Mrs. Palin isn't trying to protect moose or wolves or anything like that. She's simply advocating that cultivation of wolves are required becuase they're needed for and to protect valuable resources to Alsaskans.

She's from Alaska, so that already makes her more qualified to offer insight into matters than both of us. If this is a problem in Alaska, and this is a solution, I don't see why it should be condemned simple because Palin advocates for it.

 

[Brad Shepard]

I love wolfs and i dont like anyone that hates them, there amazing animals, and they dont need to be hunted.

Dont get me wrong, only kill them in self defence, and dont pull a Jimbo please.

 

[Rottweiler]

Okay, first the 'Predator Control Program' is not from Palin. It's from the Alaska State Department of Fish and Game. Set up by biologists.

Second, this program is intended to keep the wolves- which for some reason everyone idolizes- from over feeding on and destroying the Caribou and Moose herds, which will then cause said wolves to die from starvation.

Also, when they run out of food, they kill *people*.

I apologize if I sound irritated but I *live* in Alaska. I am a little tired of people who have seen wolves on the Discovery Channel and in Zoos who champion for them like they're the cutest puppies on Earth.

Reality? Native Alaskan villages lose *children* to wolf packs yearly. And no, the 2-year olds weren't wandering out in the wilderness, this is wolves attacking in *villages* like they've done for millenia. Want to talk conservation? How about the thousands of Native Alaskans who would like to be able to hunt *instead of starving* but someone from Florida tells them 'no, the wolves that killed your child should be saved at all costs!'.

SO far as I know, there is no standard Wolf hunting that occurs, beyond certain Native American rights. The *only* Wolf hunting that goes on is sanctioned by educated, experienced wildlife biologists, who are thinning the numbers before they wipe out entire herds of *other* animals which I guess people don't like as much as wolves.

 

[Rottweiler]

Also, when did 'hunting from a helicopter' matter? I am honestly confused. You are using a modern, high powered rifle against which the animal has no defense. Does it matter that you're doing so from *another* modern device? Must we use spears? Rocks? Harsh language?

The hunters are allowed to kill x number of wolves. I absolutely fail to see how hunting them from the ground, from tunnels, from a helicopter, or from Low Earth Orbit matters in any way at all. And *please* don't bring 'fair' into this. Fair is not even near this conversation. 300 pound wolf + instinct + teeth vs. tender pink human? Is that...'fair'? No. Hence humans who have sentience and opposable thumbs created weapons so that they don't have to be able to run fast or have sharp teeth.

Also, so far as I am aware, *Palin* hasn't hunted *anything* from a Helicopter. You're mixing up something that *biologists* put together.

Simply put, trained biologists whose entire job it is to figure this out see animal populations going overboard. To keep the numbers stable, the herd/pack needs to be thinned. To do so requires someone or something to kill said animal. Only a very limited number of said animals are killed. Whether they are killed from the ground or a hot air balloon, only x number are killed. Period.

 

[Calatar]

I never said that she was trying to protect the wildlife, I actually said quite the opposite. Mrs. Palin isn't trying to protect moose or wolves or anything like that. She's simply advocating that cultivation of wolves are required becuase they're needed for and to protect valuable resources to Alsaskans.

There are about 900,000 wild caribou in Alaska according to their department of fish and game. There are around 10,000 wolves. Alaskan hunters shoot 22,000 caribou each year.
The human population of Alaska is 700,000.
So, there are more caribou than there are people in Alaska, there are 70 people for every wolf. I find it hard to believe that those 10,000 wolves are capable of killing enough of the millionish caribou that there's any valid scarcity of caribou in Alaska, which holds nearly 1/5th of the population of the world's caribou.
Alaska's primary exports are fish and metal ores. If a state's primary export is a food item, you can bet that starvation isn't really an issue for that state.

It's not starvation-avoidance, it's recreational big-game hunting, which by law is required to be used for food. Sarah Palin is a member of the "hunting for fun" group of people, and Alaska houses some of them. When caribou die-offs happen in Alaska due to a scarcity of food, and hunters look for caribou to kill locally , but most of them are already dead, they blame wolves, the convenient scapegoat. There isn't any need to kill wolves to feed humans in Alaska. This is what is colloquially known as bullshit.

 

[Naheal]

Hate to be a prick, but since threads like this tend to be a bit... explosive and that the off-topic forums tend to be our most visited forums, it might be a good idea to keep these sort of thing here. [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/index/528-Religion-and-Politics]

 

[ChaoticLegion]

Sarah Palin is the political equivalent of Miley Cyrus. She's retarded, has no talent for what she does, will manipulate any media-form or person to get herself more attention, and has an inexplicably devoted fanbase. They only difference is that Miley Cyrus wasn't almost VP.

This made me lol and I totaly agree xD

Many Alaskans depend on hunting for hood and other purposes. Predators kill more than 80 percent of the moose and caribou that die there in a given year.

So we should let humans starve so that wolves aren't mistreated? Its not like its complete genocide of the entire wolven race. Give me a break.

You expect me to believe that, in a modern world America, it's citizens would die of starvation simply because it'd be illegal to hunt down and kill wolves? You sir, need to give me a break.

 

[Withall]

Wolf hunting= Fox hunting. Leisure sport of the wealth and powerful. There is apparently a saying amongst people who respects the Endangered Species Act (even though I can't quote it) that goes along the lines of "If you can shoot it and bury it before anyone knows, it never happened".

One could extend that mentality to aerial wolf-hunting. "I shot those wolves, but it was in the wild, where no one was looking". It could be extended into "aggressive property maintenance", if one is willing to really stretch it.
Recreational hunters of Palin's caliber (when an ambush question such as "What do you read?" warrants a "That's a trick question" as a response, you know what caliber we're talking about) might not grasp the whole "circle of life" concept. However, hunting should be based on ECOLOGICAL balance, NOT personal AFFECTION towards any particular animal.


As Naheal pointed out, this isn't exactly an Escapist subject, and more of a personal agenda subject, so I'll point out that there is, somewhere on the 'net where a loading video which features Palin doing some aerial hunting, and it looked so real, I thought it was a real mini-game.

 

[cerebus23]

Okay, first the 'Predator Control Program' is not from Palin. It's from the Alaska State Department of Fish and Game. Set up by biologists.

Second, this program is intended to keep the wolves- which for some reason everyone idolizes- from over feeding on and destroying the Caribou and Moose herds, which will then cause said wolves to die from starvation.

Also, when they run out of food, they kill *people*.

I apologize if I sound irritated but I *live* in Alaska. I am a little tired of people who have seen wolves on the Discovery Channel and in Zoos who champion for them like they're the cutest puppies on Earth.

Reality? Native Alaskan villages lose *children* to wolf packs yearly. And no, the 2-year olds weren't wandering out in the wilderness, this is wolves attacking in *villages* like they've done for millenia. Want to talk conservation? How about the thousands of Native Alaskans who would like to be able to hunt *instead of starving* but someone from Florida tells them 'no, the wolves that killed your child should be saved at all costs!'.

SO far as I know, there is no standard Wolf hunting that occurs, beyond certain Native American rights. The *only* Wolf hunting that goes on is sanctioned by educated, experienced wildlife biologists, who are thinning the numbers before they wipe out entire herds of *other* animals which I guess people don't like as much as wolves.

/Thread Really.

On a less serious note. After playing red dead redemption quite a bit i fully support the wholesale slaughter of wolves, they are not cute they are not nice doggies, they are pack hunting, incessant, annoying, they must be stopped at all costs. I been trying to make them extinct in red dead but they KEEP COMING BACK.

 

[ender003]

Populations of animals have been controlling themselves long before humans came in and started killing things so they wouldn't die.

 

[JIst00]

OK, wolves used to be part of the British Wildlife population, untill they were hunted out, for the same reasons being cited for Alaska (well ish). OK this was a long time ago, but proves that people havent changed *that* much over the centuries. Also maybe they attack the villages because ur villages are built on land that used to belong to no one and they could just go about their wolfish business. All of a sudden people have settled there, changed the enviroment etc etc.

The only species on this planet that needs our help to be controled, is our own. Nature can balance itself and has done for millenia.

And I'd gladly be part of the human population control scheme, and start hunting people. Predator style.

By the way, I dont really give a shit about the enviroment or wolves or anything, I just think people are stupid and shit and need fucking culling. Just to lessen the amount of dickweeds I have to deal with on a day to day basis.

 

[Rottweiler]

Populations of animals caused Extinctions long before Man.

 

[ObsessiveSketch]

The vice president has less power then Miley Cyrus(and thats a scary thing)

That's what the Republican party said when they appointed the no-good trouble-making loony named Teddy Roosevelt to the position. Then, hey presto, Mckinley's dead and the person they wanted to put out of the way is now the most powerful in the country. (Thank God he did a great job, 'ey?)

McCain, bless his old bones, is still alive. But there's no aspirin in the world that could lower my blood pressure if Palin was one stroke (literally) away from the Oval Office.

Only, unlike Roosevelt, she would...y'know...end the world.

PS. Wouldn't it just leave a bad taste in everyone's mouth if the first woman president was decided by presidential succession?

 

[Private Custard]

My rule is this.

You hunt it, you eat/use it. If your hunting of an animal serves no purpose other than for you to kill something, then you're a dick.

Simple really. Also, hunting from helicopters is for pussies, get down on their level and we'll see just how good you are!

 

[Megalodon]

If you really want to hunt wolves (which I heartily disapprove of) use Irish Wolfhounds, its what they're for.