Where Do the Veep Candidates Stand on Animals?

The political talk over the last couple weeks has swirled around two subjects: the party conventions, and the vice presidential nominees. Now that Barack Obama and John McCain have both selected their running mates, it's time to look at the animal protection records of the two vice presidential hopefuls.

As of today, the contrast could not be more clear: While Sen. Joe Biden (D-Del.) has been a leader in the Senate to protect marine mammals and exotic wildlife, Gov. Sarah Palin (R-Alaska) has denied the threats facing polar bears and has led her state's efforts to gun down wolves from airplanes and helicopters.

McCain announced this morning that the GOP ticket now includes Gov. Palin, who is a lifetime member of the National Rifle Association and, despite her youth and good looks, is a throwback on animal issues. Having her one heartbeat from the presidency should strike fear into any animal advocate in the nation. The Palin Administration has waged an all-out war on Alaska's predators to artificially boost the populations of moose and caribou for trophy hunters, and has tried to pass legislation making it easier for state officials to gun down wolves and bears from the sky.

Last year, the state offered a $150 bounty as an incentive for pilots and aerial gunners to kill more wolves. And leading up to this week's statewide vote on Measure 2 to stop the aerial shooting of wolves and bears, Palin's Board of Game spent $400,000 of public money on brochures and radio ads to influence the election. She not only took an inhumane and unsporting position at odds with the principles of wildlife management and fair chase, but did it in an undemocratic and underhanded way.

Gov. Palin also penned an op-ed in the New York Times earlier this year arguing that it was the "wrong move" to list the polar bear under the Endangered Species Act. Later, when the Bush Administration announced its listing of the polar bear as a threatened species, she filed a lawsuit seeking to reverse the decision. Environmentalists fired back over Palin's lawsuit and said "her head-in-the-sand approach to global warming only helps oil companies, certainly not Alaska or the polar bear."

On the Democratic ticket, Sen. Biden has been a longtime friend of animal welfare in the Senate, and has received high marks year after year on the Humane Scorecard. In the current session of Congress, Sen. Biden co-sponsored measures to stop horse slaughter, upgrade the penalties for animal fighting, ban the possession of fighting dogs and attendance at a dogfight, and call on Canada to stop its annual massacre of baby harp seals. He has consistently signed onto letters requesting increased funds for the enforcement of the Animal Welfare Act, Humane Methods of Slaughter Act, and the federal animal fighting law.

Biden has not only supported animal protection legislation during his career, but has also led the fight on important issues. He was the co-author with Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) in the 108th Congress on legislation to ban the netting of dolphins by commercial tuna fishermen. He was the lead author of a bill in the 107th Congress to prohibit trophy hunting of captive exotic mammals in fenced enclosures, and he successfully passed the bill through the Senate Judiciary Committee.

You'll hear more from the Humane Society Legislative Fund about the presidential race as we get closer to Election Day. Keep checking the blog for updates and more information, and send me an email to let me know what you think.

Read more reaction from HuffPost bloggers to John McCain's selection of Sarah Palin as his running mate

Follow Michael Markarian on Twitter: www.twitter.com/mmarkarian

Comments

[patianneb]

She's a dominionist: They conveniently interpret "dominion" as "domination" which in their lexicon means do whatever you want to anything on earth. God approves.
A growing movement, religion based, rightfully (I think) is choosing to interpret "dominion" as "stewardship", showing respect for God's great gift of the earth and its astonishing miracles.
Much of it has sprung from Matthew Scully's "Dominion: The Power of Man, the Suffering of Animals and the Call to Mercy " He, by the way is a conservative Christian Republican insider. Great book.

The Palin approach is doubly terrifying in that I believe it will speed us to the tipping point of disaster and worse yet, Bush and people who believe as he does (and evidently she) wish to "help" God bring on the end of days, which they see as a wonderful thing.

[lioness39]

What is man without the beasts? If all the beasts were gone, men would die from great loneliness of spirit, for whatever happens to the beasts also happens to man. All things are connected. Whatever befalls the earth befalls the children of the earth.

Chief Seattle - Suqwamish & Duwamish

[marymansour]

S arah P alin is an animals' worst nightmare. An voracious hunter and against any environmental issues to protect endangered species - allowing wolf hunts from the air and her non-defensive stance on polar bears; She is everything PETA and other animal protection agencies h@te.

Biden, on the other hand, displays his usual traits as a protector of human and animal rights.

Obama/Biden'08.

[TheBlackCat]

I'm a vegetarian but a reasonable one. I understand that meat and hunting is part of our biology, part of our history, and deeply engrained in our cultures. Humans are going to keep on eating meat and hunting, and that just because you do either of these things does not make you a bad human being.

But SHOOTING WOLVES FROM PLANES?????!!!!!!!! What the hell is wrong with these people???!!!

[MyVesta]

TimmySlagle = Yawn.

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

[SweetJudith]

I'm already there.
Bless you for posting this.
Judith, Animal Activist!

[indyleftist]

I don't see why this is a surprise

She enjoys killing furry creatures in her spare time, not for food, but for fun

[MrBigglesworth]

We need a Vice President like Gov. Palin like we need 4 more years of George Bush (NOT)! She really could not be more anti-animal, anti-environment, or anti-woman's rights. Her parents are hunters and trappers, and she is walking in their foot-steps. I am so sorry that this type of person will go down in history for woman. How dare her compare herself to Hillary.
The post above by "Timmy" is as ridiculous as Palin herself. How do you learn about animals from those who only want to kill them and make them go extinct? The animal protection/welfare folks know far more, they care about their well-being, rescuing them and preserving them. You must be a hunter yourself to offer such an empty comment.
Thank you Michael Markarian for summarizing how god-awful Gov. Palin is as a candidate and an uncaring human, she would never get my vote.

[hershykershy]

I will also discount your famous quote, "A human being is a part of the whole, called by us the 'Universe', a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings, as something separate from the rest - a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty. Nobody is able to achieve this completely, but the striving for such achievement is in itself a part of the liberation and a foundation for inner security.” as an adolescent indiscretion.

[Liberoservative]

and then the state covered up that they killed pups in their den so voters wouldn't "feel sorry"......

http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/wildlife/wolves/story/491012.html

This sounds like the EPA email that just "wasn't read" by BushCo

[SweetJudith]

You are so right!

[Fudgefase]

Where does she stand on animals?
Everywhare. In the hall, the living room, the kitchen etc etc

[OhioJan]

Here's a few interesting Sarah Palin Articles:

http://www.grizzlybay.org/SarahPalinInfoPage.htm

http://www.wolfsongnews.org/news/Alaska_current_events_2364.html

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/187170/alaska_pays_bounty_to_kill_wolves.html

http://www.ontheissues.org/Sarah_Palin.htm = She's bent on opening ANWR for oil drilling and "has NO STANCE on..." drug enforcement, children & family assistance,immigration, foreign policy, government reform, free trade, job loss/creation, developing new technologies.


Good job neglecting to properly vet a VP pick, McForrestall campaign! You 2 really ARE "soulmates"; Just be "soulmates" on a deserted island, far away from the citizens of the good U.S. of A!!! These 2 will be worse than the current 2 a n t i - C h r i s t s !!!! God help us all.

[WyteFyre]

Great post! I've known about good ole Sarah for awhile (I'm a member of Defenders of Wildlife).

[thepoliticalcat]

Good grief! This woman is a monster!

[lioness39]

In her own words: yup! yup!

[1IrishdeAztlan]

Thank you for bringing this to light.

Shooting wolves from the air.

Makes me think of when the railroads first started crossing the plains and passengers would shoot buffalo from the trains. All in the spirit of good sport and adventure. And keep rolling on.

My question is: How does one collect the "bounty"? Don't you have to have a pelt or a head or some kind of proof. Can someone please tell me how an airplane lands in wolf country.