This is in support of the Miller PAW Act/bill to outlaw Aerial wolf hunts in Alaska, an extremely cruel, inhumane (and totally UNsporting) "sport"....which Yellowstone is now considering doing as well.

I just can't help it....I feel these animals need all of our/the  intervention/help...they can get. And so does George Miller of Alaska, who introduced the Act.

www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/477616584

Signed it!

Thank you to those who signed...I Know I often get on my soap box too much...But heck..how can one say they respect and love animals and yet stand back when those wild creatures are being sold down the river for $$$$$. Esp by our politicians.

Research please (google)...and see who supports Aerial Hunting and Planned Bird Shoots (none of those hunted have a chance) and go from there if you vote.

I have always felt...lack of compassion for the helpless is a trickle down, bottom line, lack-of compassion for ALL creatures. (i.e. Humankind,etc),

Guess I am just  naive?

Jan(?)...I couldn't agree with you more. I always ask of people...read, study issues, and research a LOT...both sides. And I have. I have friends in Alaska back country who are on both sides of the issue...with one exception...they are strongly against the aerial method of culling. (Also used for bears and mustangs.)

(Palin used up over $400,000 of taxpayers money to push through a bill's loophole allowing this hunting method as well as offering a bounty for wolf legs.)

Hoards of scientists and researchers have come up with sterization programs and trap and relocate programs that actually cost less....and, apparently, work.

In some areas, and not many, the (TROPHY) Moose pop has, reportedly, been affected by the wolves...those are the areas that need to be addressed and viable solutions determined BEFORE ever allowing this  method of killing/culling. It really can NOT be called "hunting".

This is interesting....But also it is  NOT the only piece I have read/seen on this issue. (Honest)

Watch Important New Video

As a fellow hunting family, I invite you to see the new video, Ending Aerial Wolf Hunting ( http://current.com/items/88811075_end_aerial_wolf_hunting )

Created by long-time wildlife photographers and residents of Alaska, this explosive video blasts the justification for Alaska's current aerial wolf hunting program and rallies voters to end it. Using testimony from Alaska Department of Fish & Game staff, a master hunting guide, and Board of Game members, this video exposes the fallacy behind Governor Sarah Palin's claim that predator control is based on sound science. Declarations that the program is for the benefit of subsistence hunters are shattered with documentation showing that sport and trophy hunters take up to 73% of prey in areas where aerial wolf hunting has taken place. End Aerial Wolf Hunting rallies support for H.R. 3663, legislation now being considered in the U.S. Congress which will close the loophole in the Federal Airborne Hunting Act that has been exploited to allow this practice to continue. Five years in the making, this video exposes the truth about the stranglehold the hunting lobby has on wildlife management in Alaska.

Thank you for watching!

Dorothy Keeler
http://akwildlife.com/Photographers.html

current.com/items/88811075_end_aerial_wolf_hunting

OOPS...there is the actual video link.

Also...wanted to add....there are many responses to the video and the issue...from BOTH sides. Very interesting read. ALL the  viewpoints.

I don't have time to go into deep research right now for this since i i have alot of reading to do for my classes.  So i don't plan to sign the petition... since i don't know the full story. 

We have alot of hunters in this area and alot of them are used for meat.  or whatnot.  for population control, starvation and diseases.... 

we have several deer in the area and I would see them in groups....sometimes in a group of 8!  or 10!    and in parts of indiana... the deer were going right up to ppl's back yard.....  with the population that has increased they allow hunters get 2 deer per deer season. 

I am not a hunter....   and my husband hunts now and then... for small things, such as pheasants etc..... My son is showing interest in learning to hunt...  that is fine by me. 

But I do have to say....   this is in my opinion... and i have no intention to start anything...   It seems like some people would point at Palin like she's a bad person....  now, i was thinking what if that wasn't Palin....(as i know what you have said in the earlier forums) what if it was a different governer?  or what if a group of hunters got on there and started this?  what if there was something more to this before Palin?  I don't know if this makes any sense....on what I am trying to say....    it just seems like since Palin joined ticked with McCain....   people keep finding little things to bring her down or badmouth her or whatever.  that has gotten old with me and has gone in one hear out the other...

I would want the population control for the wolves.... and some other animals that could end up in my back yard....  I would be concerned with my rat terriers and skin kids... and for their safety... 

oh,..... and our rat terriers hunt.... rabbits, mice, rats.... so on. .....

I feel the same way too Jan....

btw, i love your avator! 

This is NOT about Palin per se...in fact, this movement and MY concerns started when she was GOV...I had NO idea she would be where she is now at! Truly!

I was following her way back...but only as a proponent for aerial hunts (upset...ME)...no idea who I was up against. And, in her defense, she went with the Alaska Hunting groups..they have the $$$$!

I do have great friends in  Alaska who have been my support system in my interest...

This (my concerns) are...
about the TYPE of culling of an animal. Fair or inhumane.

I have been just as vocal about the culling of Mustangs on Cattleman's  Assoc(free) grazing lands...again, $$$$$$ by Political Interests to save their (hunter) roles...

(I just get "into it" too much.sorry!) Research is the answer!!!!

And Jan...does not matter to me who you feel safe with politically...I applaud you for wanting to RESEARCH!  And...Learn! Refreshing!

I wish more would do the same!!!!!

Peace.

Di (Yogi's Mom)

Before moving to Florida 7 years ago, I lived in Alaska for 15 years and worked and traveled it for five years prior to moving there. The wolf issue is a complicated issue and more involved than simply shooting wolves. While it does seem unsportsmanlike, one also has to consider what happens if the population is not controlled, I'm not defending the state's action, I am just saying that it is a complicated enough issue and then add the balance of nature into the mix and things may not be as clear cut as they seem. I urge everyone to take a 360 degree look at the issue before defending or criticizing the issue.

Vickie

Before moving to Florida 7 years ago, I lived in Alaska for 15 years and worked and traveled it for five years prior to moving there. The wolf issue is a complicated issue and more involved than simply shooting wolves. While it does seem unsportsmanlike, one also has to consider what happens if the population is not controlled, I'm not defending the state's action, I am just saying that it is a complicated enough issue and then add the balance of nature into the mix and things may not be as clear cut as they seem. I urge everyone to take a 360 degree look at the issue before defending or criticizing the issue.

Vickie

Staying totally out of the "political circle" here, and sticking just to the wolf issue. 

Here in Indiana (as was previously mentioned) the deer population often gets totally out of control, and deer will come in huge herds into a farmer's fields and strip out literally acres and acres of corn and soybeans.  In the State Park areas, the deer population gets so out of hand at times that there isnt enough food for them to eat, and they begin to strip bark off the trees, and still end up starving because there are more deer than the area they are habitating can adequately provide for.  The state of Indiana often opens up "deer hunting" inside the protected areas of the state parks and will even allow for handicapped hunters to drive their vehicles through to hunt and kill deer.  I have a neighbor that is a paraplegic but he used to be a hunter, so he hunts from his van when the state has these "special hunting" times.  The slain deer still have to be accounted for and tagged properly, and they are not killed just for "fun", but used for food by most hunters.  To me, driving through the woods and shooting a deer is NOT 'sport', nor is it 'hunting', considering the fact that a lot of the park deer are so used to seeing people around that they will practically walk right up to your car. But...on the other hand, if there is no control in the deer poplation, not only would the deer starve to death from lack of food, they also would become a bigger nuisence to farmers than they are now.  And this is DEER I'm talking about---not wolves.  I can only imagine what an overpopulation of wolves that run out of things to hunt and eat to sustain their packs would turn to if the population was not kept under some sort of control.  I dont agree that shooting from helicopters is a good way to hunt, but I do know that the Alaskan wilderness is far too vast to travel on foot, even for the most fit hunter, and some unpopular methods sometimes need to be used just to keep the wolf population numbers from getting out of control.

OK--that's my 2-cents'worth of opinion.