Defenders of Wildlife target Palin

[magnet]

Another recently released attack ad (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQobIUE1zTU) is gaining buzz. It focuses on Palin's support of aerial hunting and is playing in Ohio currently, and maybe Florida next.

Judging from the comments, it is really freaking some people out. I'm not so sure about its effectiveness. What do y'all think of it (caution: it really does depict aerial wolf hunting)?

[CSL]

It's not going to be that effecitve, and continuing to hammer on Palin probably isn't the best thing. But they still let people hunt wolves up in Alaska? And from helicopters?

Let's forget their hunting wolves, doing so from a helicopter is cowardly. Fucking unbelievable. This is one of the only issues I'd go with PETA or those other animal organizations with. The ad actually got me angry.

[Peter Frazier]

In that first shot of Sarah Palin, did they use the magic of photoshop to somehow morph Dick Cheney onto her?

[AndrewM]

"The rifle is the first weapon you learn how to use, because it lets you keep your distance from the client. The closer you get to being a pro, the closer you can get to the client. The knife, for example, is the last thing you learn."

[Brad Grenz]

Is it actual sport hunting or are we talking about population control or protecting livestock?

[Eric T Cheng]

Is it actual sport hunting or are we talking about population control or protecting livestock?

Information about wolves in Alaska (http://www.alaskabears.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=wolf.main), according to the Alaskan government website:


The wolf is one of the world's most fascinating and well-studied animals. Alaskans are fortunate to have an estimated 7,700-11,200 wolves in our state. Wolves have never been threatened or endangered in Alaska, and inhabit all of their traditional range except within the largest cities.

Frankly, I don't see a reason to cull carnivores since their numbers are never close to herbivores. Nature has her own way of culling animals if their numbers are ever too large. Carnivores eat the weak and the old. Herbivores die of starvation if they overpopulate.

[Brad Grenz]

Wolf Control in Alaska (http://www.alaskabears.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=wolf.control)


programs use a closely controlled permit system allowing aerial or same day airborne methods to remove wolves in designated areas. In these areas, wolf numbers will be temporarily reduced, but wolves will not be permanently eliminated from any area. Successful programs allow humans to take more moose, and healthy populations of wolves to continue to thrive in Alaska.

OK, so it's what I thought, limited permit hunting to keep prey populations higher, which in turn allows more hunting of moose, caribou, etc. That's hardly nefarious, especially since game can be a significant food source for people in Alaska.

[PeterGinsberg]

It's not going to be that effecitve, and continuing to hammer on Palin probably isn't the best thing.

Yes. This ad will do a great job convincing liberals not to vote for McCain/Palin, nice work.

[Robert Sharp]

Frankly, I don't see a reason to cull carnivores since their numbers are never close to herbivores. Nature has her own way of culling animals if their numbers are ever too large. Carnivores eat the weak and the old. Herbivores die of starvation if they overpopulate.

That would be roughly correct in a truly natural environment. But those don't exist in very many places anymore. Culling herds has to be done because of the human element. They wander into cities and such looking for food, which causes infrastructure problems.

I leave it to you to decide whether that's their fault or ours.

[Tim James]

Another recently released attack ad (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQobIUE1zTU) is gaining buzz. It focuses on Palin's support of aerial hunting and is playing in Ohio currently, and maybe Florida next.Ah, national politics at its most stupid. As if old people from NY that now live in West Palm Beach would know a thing about Alaska's unique problems about hunting, predators, subsistence, and wildlife. Have they stopped teaching federalism in schools completely now?

I'm open to the idea that Palin's team is using some weak research and doesn't necessarily need to kill that many wolves, but it's bizarre that the other side tries to co-opt the mantel of science and then uses lame appeals to emotion to get their way.

Your ideology is showing.

[Eric T Cheng]

That would be roughly correct in a truly natural environment. But those don't exist in very many places anymore. Culling herds has to be done because of the human element. They wander into cities and such looking for food, which causes infrastructure problems.

I leave it to you to decide whether that's their fault or ours.

Yeah, I have to agree that encroaching human cities into animal's habitats are causing more and more problems for both humans and animals. Black bears are an issue here in Vancouver's suburb cities. The black bears are tranquilized and released back into the woods but some are occasionally destroyed if they regularly enter the city because they've gotten to used to humans and the garbage for food.

[Jason McCullough]

Regional identity politics cuts two ways, you know; Ohio may have a little bit of a hard time identifying with shooting wolves from an airplane.

[Brad Grenz]

No kidding, but presumably Sarah Palin doesn't endorse the practice in Ohio. Obviously they are targeting markets with this stuff where it will play due to local ignorance of the realities at play. The thing is, Barack Obama can win without this kind of politicking bullshit. All it does is tarnish his image by association.

And you don't shoot them from an airplane. You shoot them from a chopper, or you take a bush plane to where they are, land and shoot them from the ground. Duh!

[Jason McCullough]

GET TO THE CHOPPAH

[Talisker]

Sarah Palin shot Bigfoot from a helicopter (http://www.weeklyworldnews.com/?p=2605).

http://www.weeklyworldnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/palinvsbigfoot.jpg

[Qenan]

Need to add her pregnant hillbilly daughter to the shot.

[John Many Jars]

Hmmm, maybe Bigfoot was the real dad and that young lunkhead Lance or whatever his name is is just the beard...

[Houngan]

Frankly, I don't see a reason to cull carnivores since their numbers are never close to herbivores. Nature has her own way of culling animals if their numbers are ever too large. Carnivores eat the weak and the old. Herbivores die of starvation if they overpopulate.

With all due respect, and I say this with absolutely no acrimony, you really need to study this. Your understanding of population dynamics is utterly flawed. Nature has about two methods to deal with rapid overpopulation, namely starvation and disease, and these apply to all animals.

Now, there are some wonderful adaptations that allow certain animals to curtail breeding in lean times, but often those are equally deplorable (from a human standpoint) involving such ugliness as infanticide and cannibalism. In rare cases, offspring number are controlled biologically. But "fewer predators than prey" has nothing to do with it, being the direct equal of "Fewer humans that cornstalks."

H.