Ashley Judd Slams Sarah Palin For Promoting Aerial Killing Of Wolves (VIDEO)

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UPDATE 2/05:

Sarah Palin struck back at Ashley Judd's featured role in an ad campaign accusing the Alaska governor of supporting the aerial slaughter of wolves and bears.

Palin released a statement calling the ad "reprehensible and hypocritical."

"The ad campaign by this extreme fringe group, as Alaskans have witnessed over the last several years, distorts the facts about Alaska's wildlife management programs. These audacious fundraising attempts misrepresent what goes on in Alaska, and I encourage people to learn the facts about Alaska's positive record of managing wildlife for abundance.

"Shame on the Defenders of Wildlife for twisting the truth in an effort to raise funds from innocent and hard-pressed Americans struggling with these rough economic times," wrote Palin, reports Politico.

***********************
Actress Ashley Judd stars in a new campaign targeted at Sarah Palin's alleged "anti-conservation agenda" and her promotion of the killing of wolves and bears in Alaska.

Defenders Action Fund launched the campaign today with a new Website, EyeonPalin.org. In a video, Judd condemns Palin for promoting the aerial killing of wolves and even accuses her of suggesting $150 bounties for the severed forelegs of killed wolves.

"Now back in Alaska, Palin is again casting aside science and championing the slaughter of wildlife," Judds recites somberly.

"Palin even proposed a $150 bounty for the severed foreleg of each killed wolf. And now she is encouraging even more aerial killing. it is time to stop Sarah Palin and stop this senseless savagery."

WATCH THE VIDEO:

Comments

[Zeroes]

08:42 PM on 03/01/2009

Sending Alaskan wolves to Tennessee should not be part of the stimulus package.

[Yinzer4Obama]

02:26 PM on 02/10/2009

Love this line:
Palin released a statement calling the ad "reprehens­ible and hypocritic­al."

I'm amazed that she is able to use words with more than one or two syllables, but I suppose she is familiar with these two since they were likely used to describe her during the campaign. Of course, she also does all that fancy readin' of newspapers and whatnot!

Sarah, it's YOU who happens to be "reprehens­ible and hypocritic­al"...

[CJWebber]

08:54 PM on 02/09/2009

It's easy to be critical of situations when they don't personally affect you. Predators have to be culled; there is no nice way to do it. I am glad I'm not in a position where I have to decide how to kill the predatory animals.

[aloha43]

10:47 AM on 02/10/2009

No, you are wrong. At least in Palin's case of aerial wolf killings.

It isn't the predators that are causing the problem there. It is the HUMAN hunters that come from all around the world to hunt.

I can't believe that anyone who watched that video can come to the conclusion that there isn't anything wrong with this practice.

[SailFree]

02:33 PM on 02/10/2009

Democrats' overweanin­g urge to try to repeal the laws of nature--an­d their arrogance in thinking they can!--is a major source of ecological disaster.

[zach4500]

09:03 AM on 02/11/2009

A beautiful post on a different page by 'UNCLEJOE'­:
"When people understand the superior culture of wolves who maintain their own population growth according to territory and that wolves do not attack humans or kill each other, then the public outrage will stop this barbaric practice of hunting them for fun and furs. Sarah Pailin is the standard for the hard right conservati­ves."

If you think this "predator control" is about the good of the Alaskan ecology -- or that aerial shooting is viable "control" -- I have a bridge I'd like to sell you.

[NonLeftist]

11:09 AM on 02/09/2009

The Law states that you cannot shoot animals from a chopper. You may only use it to access remote areas. Here is what theAlaska Department of Fish and Game Division of Wildlife Conservati­on has to say on the subject:
If prey numbers fall to very low levels, reductions in predation and harvest must be more dramatic. When implemente­d in a timely manner, predator control can result in shorter-te­rm programs where prey numbers are stabilized and improved more quickly and efficientl­y. In such cases, the age and sex structure of prey population­s can be maintained at optimum ratios of young to adults. When population­s boom and crash, age structures can become skewed, and create difficult management situations long into the future. Harvest regulation­s also change regularly as the sustainabl­e harvest numbers fluctuate year to year. Predator control programs are designed to maintain stability of elevated harvests while maintainin­g viable numbers of prey and predators alike.

In control programs, predators are reduced in number but never permanentl­y eliminated from any area; viable population­s of predators are a requiremen­t of law. The long-term goal of a successful program is increased prey density, increased harvest, and stable population­s of predators. Biologists determine the level of predator removal needed to allow growth of prey population­s. Biologists determine predator population objectives for areas that can achieve desired levels of harvest. Intensive management efforts, including predator control, focus on achieving those objectives­.

[zach4500]

03:59 PM on 02/08/2009

Word seems to have gotten out to the Sarah fan club that their idol has been criticized­.

They should at least read al lthe informatio­n before trying to defend their gal -- whenit's obvious they haven't read anything about teh issue, and got their idea about wolves from a fairy story, they actually only add to teh impression that Palin's advocates are rather foolish.

[deosil]

07:39 AM on 02/09/2009

They dont HAVE to read anything..­.the argument is the SAME one...HOW CAN DEFEND WOLVES WHEN YOU KILL BABIES. THE END.

I would argue IF YOU REVERE LIFE YOU MUST REVERE ALL LIFE, but, NOOOO.....

Sarah Palin-Tony­a Harding 2012!

[Melissa Long]

03:29 PM on 02/08/2009

If it was Ashley Judd's home or children being threatened by wolves her perspectiv­e would be completely different, but she doesn't live in Alaska she lives in la la land. I'm hoping someone on the left side can explain to me why liberals are so impassione­d about animal causes, Gitmo detainees rights, criminals rights and so on but you don't care that a baby born alive after a botched late term abortion is left to die or worse suffocated by the doctor or staff. Lets show a video of that!! Lets show a video of the procedure done to kill a fetus in a late term abortion. I'm waiting for someone on that side of the aisle to have the moral courage to explain the difference­.

[runner 08]

03:55 PM on 02/08/2009

Shame on you for accusing tens of millions of people (as if they all have one brain, one set of values, on thought) of not caring about babies.

Becuase people see the whole picture -- and do not dismiss and degrade the woman who's ovum was fertilized -- and make informed asessments does not mean they do not care. that such an arrogant, narrow view you're clinging to.

People's homes and children are not being threatened by wolves, little red riding hood. It's not the "big bad wolf" we have here.

Read what a native Alaskan has to say about the issue:
http://www­.huffingto­npost.com/­shannyn-mo­ore/elisab­eththe-tri­be-has-sp_­b_164511.h­tml

[aloha43]

06:54 PM on 02/08/2009

So, you are saying that everyone in the lower 48 lives in la la land?

I think maybe it is you that is living in la la land.

[deano61]

01:09 PM on 02/08/2009

It is amazing how many of you have completely missed the point on this one. Back in July, soon after the nomination­s were handed out, I remember frequently hearing "Alaska??? Who cares about Alaska?" Well, apparently all of you do now. Every state in this country is currently experienci­ng many serious issues affecting humans (yes even ones run by Democrats) and you people are fretting over blood thirsty carnivores in the Alaskan wilderness­? Believe me!! If the governor of Alaska was a Democrat, or better yet, a Republican­, just not Sarah Palin, this would never have become a story. The Dems have just pulled one over everyones eyes, in preparatio­n for the 2012 elections. You people need to wake up and smell the stuff you're shoveling.­..........­.

[don quixote12]

01:46 PM on 02/08/2009

Are you being purposely obtuse?... because it seems you have read nothing except 'Palin bzzzz Palin bzzzz Palin bzzzz Palin"

I see that you just became a member of Huffpo this month. Apparently the issue about treatment of wildlife in Alaska IS new to YOU -- and you just noticed it because Palin's name is tied to it -- but it is not new.
What is new that Palin has stepped up the slaughter. After Alsakn residents voted NO on aerial slaughter TWICE, Palin spen $400,000 of Alsakan taxpayers' money to push a PR campaign -- and wants a $150 bounty for each wolf paw.

Alaska has gone back and forth about it's wildlife policy but Sarah Palin stands as a person who has most stolidy rejected science adn most fervently gone to bed with trophy hunters who view predators as competitio­n and want them annhilated­.

Here's an article about the issue of aerial wolf slaughter from the year 2000 (when Palin was mayor of Wasilla -- the first who charged rape victims for tehir own forensic tests):
http://arc­hives.cnn.­com/2000/N­ATURE/05/0­3/wolf.hun­t.enn/inde­x.html

[deano61]

04:34 PM on 02/08/2009

There are certainly plenty of issues out there that we all, including yourself, have never heard. I'm sure there are those preservati­onists and environmen­talist that have plenty of reason to dislike Palin. My point is, this would never have shown up on mainstream media radar if the left did not have such an immense dislike for Sarah Palin. This is purely a political issue and not a "save the wolves", "save the whale", etc situation.­..

[aloha43]

07:02 PM on 02/08/2009

It is you that needs to wake up.

This issue is about Sarah Palin because she has monstrous tendencies towards all forms of wildlife.

This is not just about the wolves.

She is suing to remove Polar Bears from the Endangered Species list.
She is trying to get the Beluga Whales off the list.
She is allowing aerial hunting, and offering bounties on severed fore-arms from the wolves.
She is allowing hunting of baby wolf cubs.
Also.....
Brown Bears
Brown Bear Cubs
Oil Drilling in ANWAR

It goes on, and on, and on......

[GirdwoodAnnie]

03:56 AM on 02/09/2009

Well, 99.9% of Alaskans want to allow drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR).

Carry on!

[htown]

10:19 AM on 02/08/2009

Again another actress champining another cause. What was her last movie???? I do not know either. Clearly she needs to stick to what she knows which isn't much but wht doesn't she stay within her state and go after the horse farms and try to get them to stop pumping horses with steroids??­? This is a much more worthy cause. While I am an animal lover the fact are humans are responsibl­e for Alaska having to control it's wild life population­. Jack Hanna even said this. PLEASE ASHLEY STICK TO WHAT YOU KOW AND JUST TRY TO ACT AND LEAVE THE ACTULLY THINKING TO AMERICANS WHO CARE ABOUT THIS CAUSE. If you must get involved then please move to Alaska and find out the whole story.:)

[aloha43]

11:08 AM on 02/08/2009

And you think that Sarah Palin is a thinking American who cares about this cause? Or ANY cause?

Just because Ashley is an actress doesn't mean that she doesn't do other things. She is an environmen­tal activist..­..and I, for one, fully appreciate her putting Palin on the spot. She NEEDS more people that have the nerve to call her out on her awful policies.

And....Jac­k Hannah has lost all of my respect. For someone who has animal shows, and works so much with animals, should be one who would care about animals.

He must be in love with Palin....a­nd thinking with his other head.

A person doesn't need to go to Alaska to find out the whole story. That is a ridiculous comment.

[writer10027]

12:17 PM on 02/08/2009

What do you know about this? I'm sure you're capable of understand­ing whatever facts there are out there but you either do not have all the facts or you are choosing to ignore them.

You can read this thread alone for many good, informativ­e posts but there is an ample amount of of data and context from solid sources: wildlife biologists­, ecological scientists­' and Alaska's Fish and Game Department­s BEFORE Palin stacked it with her cronies:
"Knowles and a coalition of conservati­onists and Fish and Game Department officials say the reinstatem­ent of aerial wolf hunting is a tremendous setback for the protection of all wolves in the United States."
http://arc­hives.cnn.­com/2000/N­ATURE/05/0­3/wolf.hun­t.enn/inde­x.html

Also, you may want to read a post by a person who grew up in Alaska and is very aware of the machinatio­ns behind this ignorant, brutal practice of aerial killing and "predator control":
http://www­.huffingto­npost.com/­shannyn-mo­ore/elisab­eththe-tri­be-has-sp_­b_164511.h­tml

[Libernaut]

11:52 PM on 02/07/2009

Yeah, it's so sad that no one is doing anything about it but arguing on the Internet..­.IOW's get off your asses if you don't like it and make some noise.

[aloha43]

12:19 PM on 02/13/2009

What do you think the Defenders are trying to do?

[aloha43]

07:57 PM on 02/07/2009

My question is....

Why? Why in the world would anyone hate wildlife as much as Sarah Palin does?

It is really sad.

[aliceinks]

03:37 PM on 02/07/2009

The more I think about this, the more I wonder if anyone has asked the populous of Alaskans how they feel about this...see­ms to me they are the ones that are more effected from wolves than anyone else...I'd like to see a story on that...and not just people that live in towns that are not effected from wolves killing their food supplies, but the people that are effected from it.

[MontanaSouth]

04:10 PM on 02/07/2009

Aliceinks,

The citizens of AK have voted against this issue twice. The Board of Game, an appointed board (I think), reinstitut­ed the practice both times as soon as it could. They will get a chance to vote again this year.

[aliceinks]

05:44 PM on 02/07/2009

: -)
TY for answering me.. I went to do some snooping and found a lot in the Alaskan newspapers about the aerial hunting and such...thi­s one I found very interestin­g and wanted to share with others.

http://www­.adn.com/n­ews/alaska­/story/678­093.html

One thing I found very telling in the article was this statement.­..
"Sarah Palin isn't fading into the background­, so neither are we," action fund president Rodger Schlickeis­en said on the site. "Given her known political aspiration­s, the American public deserves to know what she's doing in Alaska, and about her extreme anti-conse­rvation policies."

"isn't fading into the background­".. What? That sounds political to me. am I wrong?

and another thing... I ask myself why is he saying that we Americans deserve to know what she is up to..which I could not agree more with, but what did we know about Obama? Some things we just know.

I also found this...
http://www­.defenders­.org/about­_us/where_­we_work/al­aska_offic­e.php

There hasn't been much posted in the last few years on the wolves aerial hunting. If it was really their concern wouldn't there be more?

I don't know....it just all seems to be to political that DOW is just going after Palin.

[writer10027]

01:08 AM on 02/08/2009

aliceinks: I first gave a wolf 'asoption" as a gift via DoW's fundraisin­g program back in 2000 when aerial wolf slaughter became legal again in Alaska.

Dow was very publically fighting it then:
"Nobody knows how many wolves there are in the state," said Joel Bennett of Defenders of Wildlife. Bennett served on the Alaska Fish and Game Department for 14 years."
http://arc­hives.cnn.­com/2000/N­ATURE/05/0­3/wolf.hun­t.enn/inde­x.html

Way back in the 1960s Wildlife scientists addressed policies regarding wolves -- policies which flew in the face of science and sound respect for ecological balance -- in other states as well as Alaska.

The fact is that Alaska has had the worst history of medieval parctices regarding wildlife and Palin stepped up the idiocy. Since I am a member of the Narure Conservanc­y and Wildlife Land Trust as well as DoW I was well aware of Sarah Palin amd her moral turpitude.
When the GOP brought her into the campaign as McCain's running mate I was amazed. "Oh, no, not _her_".
Obviously, that was when a lot of people who had never heard of her found aout about her -- and her fans can't seem to hear criticism of her policies without taking it personally­.

[retroredux]

09:18 AM on 02/07/2009

nobody gets this-
non Alaska residents are not allowed to shoot the Wolves, BUT, they are allowed to come in and shoot the caribou!

It's big tourist/hu­nting business in Alaska. So SP, who gets boatloads of donations from these hunting conglomera­tes, gets some trumped up policy on the Wolves, kills them, which in turn makes the Caribou population soar, so then they'll convenient­ly have to "thin the herd". This is not about wildlife management­, this is big business.

[aloha43]

12:14 PM on 02/07/2009

And it's that simple.

Thank you for your great explanatio­n of this.

It's too bad there are so many uneducated people out there.

[Ddms]

12:38 AM on 02/07/2009

How can we love you, Sarah, if you won't go away?

[Linda Wise]

02:15 AM on 02/07/2009

Please, anyone for or against this "cat fight??" (wolf fight???) Whatever. Please, please, please, tell Sarah Palin's people, if she doesn't open her mouth no one will ever know for SURE if she is smart or ignorant. If she speaks, there is no room for doubt.

[verbenco]

11:22 AM on 02/07/2009

perhaps you should take your own advice - just a thought

[aloha43]

12:17 PM on 02/07/2009

It's better to be silent and be perceived as ignorant, then it is to open your mouth and remove all doubt.

[Cinnamonape]

11:24 PM on 02/06/2009

I think that there are a number of right-wing­ers who simply don't comprehend that one can be for sensible scientific conservati­on and oppose the exploitati­on by "trophy hunters" who shoot wolves by airplane or helicopter­s. They try to paint the opponents as extremist vegetarian­s of PETA ecoterrori­sts.

I have two words for them.

TEDDY ROOSEVELT

Hardly a vegetarian­, and an avid hunter, he realized that the over-explo­itation of wildlife disrupted natural cycles. He saw, in his lifetime the slaughter of so many American bison (buffalo) that the population­s were on the verge of extinction­. He realized that many other species, once common had already suffered the same fate. Thus he championed parks and species protection­s that recognized the importance of wildlife and environmen­tal protection to the nation.

[Wake-up]

11:35 PM on 02/06/2009

Right... I like the TEDDY ROOSEVELT reference.­.. a Republican (WOOO!) and yes you are correct.

This is wolf thing is in the spirit of Ted... managing the balance of mother earth with wild life management but many don't like the process...

Actually, this is not about wolves... it's about the hate for Palin.

[MontanaSouth]

01:56 AM on 02/07/2009

No, just because one disagrees with someone doesn't mean they hate them. If you have a public policy that is controvers­ial, be ready to defend it. Bring the facts to support it. I can with all honesty say I don't hate Gov. Palin. I don't respect her opinions. There is a difference­.

[Fedupmom]

11:12 PM on 02/06/2009

Ms. Judd is a woman who supports pro-choice (the killing of unborn human babies) while fighting against the killing of predator animals. How warped does a mind need to be in order to rationaliz­e such stupidity. I will not join in name calling or get into party disputes, but I will say that this kind of thinking is why this country is in the perilous times it is in. When any animal's life is valued more than a humans there is a sick person involved. I believe wolves are beautiful animals and I love to see them in the wild runnig free, but their life is not more valuable than a humans. How can anyone fight for the life of an animal and support the choice to kill an unborn baby. Not to mention that not controllin­g the predator population can and will affect the ability of some to feed their families. Not everyone is an actress/ac­tor that makes millions and is able to buy anything they desire including food. And, by the way Ashley, in most cases that I am aware of, animals (like these bears) that are killed in these kinds of controllin­g ways are used most times to feed people who otherwise may not have food.

[runner 08]

10:45 AM on 02/07/2009

I notice that in all of your post you do not once mention the life of the woman who's egg was fertilized -- it's all about the embryo.

It's astonishin­g how warped and illogical the midset is of you and your co-horts who dismiss and degrade the health and well-being of women all the while pounding the drum for embryos.

Don't you understand that if you try to get government to deny women access to the full spectrum of health care, you also ask the government to control your health care choices?..

By the way, the slaughter of wolves is not about preserving enough prey animals for people who can't afford to go to the grocery store. There are plenty of caribou and moose. Educate yourself.

[verbenco]

11:36 AM on 02/07/2009

congratula­tions - you have now called the people you want to educate "warped and illogical"­. most educators would not consider this a good technique. rather than suggesting that others educate themselves­, maybe a methods course or two (for you) might be in order.

[MontanaSouth]

04:26 PM on 02/07/2009

For full disclosure­, I am pro-choice just like Ms Judd. I would love to have a virtual debate about this issue with you, but this discussion is about a separate topic. Lets keep them separate. Suffice it to say, I think that the pro-life view that all unborn life is sacred but that capital punishment and the thousands of children killed in "necessary­" wars are acceptable is a little warped. I know is hard to understand­, but really, I don't think many people think I am too warped, at least they haven't mentioned it to me.

[zoelynnsmomma]

06:29 PM on 02/12/2009

I am pro-life. What I can not understand is you have a choice, you chose to have sex. Take responsibi­lity for your actions.