Sarah Palin's Cruel Streak

Of course, Sarah Palin's no animal lover. She's put extraordinary effort into undoing federal wildlife protections for polar bears, beluga whales, and pretty much any other animal that gets in the way of the oil industry's plans.

But her wolf bounty really takes the cake for animal cruelty. One of Palin's first acts in office was to put a $150 bounty on the heads of her state's wolves, allegedly with the goal of increasing the moose and caribou population. But this was no ordinary hunt: it was meant to incentivize the aerial killing of wolves, in which private hunters take a small plane and chase down wolf packs until they're exhausted and can't move any more, when they either shoot them from the air or land and execute them at point blank range. Then, they strap the wolf to a plane, cut off the wolf's left forearm, and bring it to the state Department of Fish and Game for their cash reward.

Here's a video from Defenders of Wildlife that shows what aerial wolf hunting is all about:

You might have heard last summer about Mitt Romney's strapping his dog to his roof on family vacations, which created a bit of a kerfuffle in the primary campaign. But we haven't heard too much about Sarah Palin's cruel streak, which makes Romney's Irish Setter's unpleasant travel pale in comparison.

As if this wasn't enough, now Palin's administration is allowing its "Department of Wildlife Conservation" to enter into wolf dens and slaughter wolf pups; in July, her employees went to retrieve adult wolf carcasses they had shot a month earlier from a helicopter and then found the wolves' pups in their den and so dispatched them one-by-one with pistol shots to the head. They then tried to conceal their actions from the public. When they were exposed, they said they had tried to place the orphaned wolves with zoos. Then the zoos said no one had contacted them.

Meanwhile, Palin's government spent $400,000 in taxpayer money on an aerial wolf hunting "education" program to lobby for the program. This is the sort of thing you can expect from Sarah Palin if she gets to be a heartbeat away from the presidency.

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Comments

[nevadarose]

Sarah Palin makes me wolf howling mad. She is afraid of domestic cats while she believes in killing all wild animals. Her promotion of aerial shooting of wolves and bears and her offer of $150 for every wolf paw brought to her--are both acts of cruelty to animals. Her lawsuit against the feds to keep polar bears off the Threatened and Endangered list so Alaskans can shoot them for sport is shameful.

Meanwhile, her 17 year old daughter got pregnant while Sarah was off doing her own thing; she kept the money for the bridge to nowhere, and she is already deep into trooper gate and library gate. Next time maybe the Republicans can find a Presidential candidate who cares enough about our country to vet his/her VP running mate for more than 24 hours? Another reckless move by McCain--No wonder the old guard never trusted him.

[PeaceOnEarth62]

Drill baby drill. Kill baby kill. Is this woman's pattern finally emerging? The best predictor of the future is the past. Wow, what a future we have to look forward to.

Sickening.

Please vote Obama/Biden 08

[boxfuss]

Wildlife experts know that killing a predator species is not the way to augment their prey species, it just upsets the delicate balance that must pertain in the wild to guarantee a healthy ecosystem.
Governor Palin is either misinformed or uninformed as to the consequences of attempting to eradicate wolves, which take the old, the sick, or the weak of their prey, and only what they need for survival, leaving the rest, thus making the species healthier. To slaughter whole wolf families is cruelly short-sighted, and just plain wrong. She should be ashamed.

[AslanRules]

Most people don’t want to think about what it means to pay bounty on a wolf’s legs, they just want the money! Someone here posted about what the office might look like where you turn those legs in…bloody, hairy, stained paperwork…and where do they put the legs after the bounty is paid? Who carts them away, incinerates them. etc.

Typically, we don’t want to think about the “logical conclusion” of selections or decisions we make…and we have to start doing that.

[RenaissanceMom]

Oh. My. God. My stomach isn't going to be right all day. Wolves are God's creatures too. There just aren't any words... That's not even ethical. That's not hunting... that's horrible. just... horrible...

[westminster]

Why is this not on TV?????? Why is the mainstream media not covering this? This makes me sick!!!!!

[acklebee]

I hate her, how can she say she knows anything about God, I hate her so much more..... she should never compare herself to an animal she deserves no compliments. Hate her. sorry. do not want to hate, but this artlcle. she wants to destroy what is innocent in a cruel way. she is a nightmare. vote get everyone to vote. somehow this has to be made into an ad for tv

[PamperedHousecat]

I don't understand why so many people are upset with this mode of hunting wolves. Once the wolves are gone the pitbulls can take over.

[toochie50]

electoral-vote.com:
OBAMA: 301
Mc: 224

that's all we need folks - 270 to win!!

fivethirtyeight.com
OBAMA: 303.1
MC: 234.9

[Missmn]

This woman is sick. Respect for life, my ass.

[bmaggiemay]

The saddest thing about this America is she thinks this is a selling point to become VP. The only people who think this is OK way of hunting is NRA. The real hunters of America do not condon this type of hunting

[schers25]

I think I'm going to be sick. I wish this was the kind of thing the country seized on.

[adjam]

I said this earlier...where is PETA when you need them?

[zedthewizard]

i would love for her to be sitting on hardball and they play the tape of her laughing about lyda green. she'll shrug it off as well, it was just a show he was kidding.

Chris: you don't see any problem as a sitting governor to engage in this behavior when you are a role model for young women throughout the state. alright, then.

Chris: we've hear about your tenure as a mayor in wassilla. tell me what happened when you discussed or asked for censorship. was it literature or pornography? because we can understand pornography.

well, there wasn't a formal request or anything. we were just talking.

Chris: the library director was fired and you faced a recall so, she was hired back. there obviously was a problem.

well, in small towns things like this happen, it's small town politics.

Chris: censorship is the antitheise of amercan values, as an agent of the press, i'm curious, what were you trying to have censored. pornography? so in a small town with small town values they were going to recall you over pornography. that just strikes me as odd.

it isn't the big thing you're making it out to be.

Chris: okay, you've had firing issues as a mayor and as a governor. we understand your complaints, but it's how you go about it.

i was protecting my family like any good mother.

Chris: what did hunting a moose have to do with your families safety. you fished out of season

[Zingaro Zorro]

Is it possible that Alaskan citizens actually know of and approve of the actions of this self-serving to the extent that80% of them approve of her abuse of power?