In your face, Sarah Palin!

While Palin was campaigning in Indiana last week, so was Defenders of Wildlife. Thanks to donations from Defenders supporters, they were able to run ads exposing Palin's brutal wolf slaughter record, including 240 wolves killed already this season, and plans to implement gas and snares to kill denning wolves and pups.
So thanks, Defenders supporters, for helping to run this hard-hitting ad campaign against Palin's anti-wolf agenda.

Facebook Fairy Garden Update: I harvested my first vitual flower and helped secure 2 square feet of endangered rainforest!

Will it ever end?

That's a good question, when it comes to Alaska's aerial hunting debate. Well here's your chance to try to swing the vote.
Tuesday Alaskans will finally vote on Aerial Hunting in Alaska, and the anti-wolf and other wildlife factions are making a last ditch effort to sway Alaskan voters with smear campaigns against wolves and touting of Alaskan wildlife as a trophy hunter's paradise, ignoring the brutal and unsportsmanlike nature of aerial gunning.
But we can help Defenders of Wildlife share the truth, by helping them to run a new ad exposing the truth behind aerial gunning.
You can view the ad HERE.
We only have until Tuesday folks, so lets get crackin', and close this deal once and for all!

Aerial Gunning Update: Please help stop it!

I wish I had the time to keep up with my goal of four or more LG articles a month, but with spring coming and the days getting longer my own days get longer as well! Never the less, here is the latest on Alaskan Governor Palin's anti-democratic attempts to continue the aerial slaughter of wolves and bears in Alaska.
As I've mentioned before, twice in the past when it has come to a vote Alaskan voters have voted AGAINST aerial gunning, and twice they have had their decision overturned. What is the point of living in a democracy if our votes mean nothing? And horror of horrors, Governor Palin is being considered for VICE PRESIDENCY? That's it. I'm moving to Canada. Mr. McCain, you should be ashamed of yourself for even thinking a bout it! Governor Sarah Palin is a politician of the worst sort, running smear campaigns against defenseless wildlife, and secretly trying to push bills through legislature that would strip Alaskan voters of their right to weigh in on key wildlife issues such as aerial gunning! Even if you care nothing for wolves it would be wrong to allow this sort of fascist manipulation to continue.
As always you can donate to Defenders of Wildlife to help them continue to run ads exposing Governor Palin's attempts to neuter Alaskan voters, or you can simply personalize and sign this handy petition.

Support the PAW Act and save Alaskan Wolves

I said I was tired of having to talk about it. That doesn't mean I'm going to STOP talking about it. Every step we take in the right direction brings us closer than ever to ending Alaska's aerial hunting forever.
A couple of months ago California Congressman George Miller (D) introduced the PAW (Protect Americas Wildlife) Act. Since then more than 100 thousand people have written to their representatives asking them to support Congressman Miller's proposed legislation, and Defenders of Wildlife secured donations to run a series of ads and mini-documentaries highlighting the horrors of Alaska's wolf 'management' plan. Donor support has helped the PAW Act gain crucial support in Congress, but there is still much work to be done before the legislation can be put to work. To this end Defenders is running an ad in Congress Daily and they need your help!
Click here to view the ad.
Already Alaskan officials are handing out wolf hunting permits. Licenses to kill in a most heinous and unsportsman-like fashion.
Don't let this go on for another season of death. Help Defenders of Wildlife stop it, now!

Wolf Awareness Week

Author's Note: Having blogger issues, sorry for no pictures. This article is a repost, and some links may no longer be active. To sign the latest petitions concerning wolves visit the Defenders of Wildlife main page and navigate to the wolf section, or click here to send a letter to your local representative supporting the PAW Act and an end to aerial gunning. First, let me repeat in case anyone has somehow managed to miss the bulletin: There is not a single case of a healthy wild wolf fatally attacking a human being in North America. I'm not even sure we have any actual documented attacks, period. Unlike mountain lions, bears, heck even a really grumpy seal will take a bite out of you. So why does the wolf get such a bad rap? I'll tell you, its a mystery to me. Now the mountain lion, you'll never see him coming. He attacks from ambush, pouncing from a ledge or hiding within sprinting distance on the downwind side of a trail. The mountain lion is solitary, and it seems to placate people to think that when they have a problem with a mountain lion they can just shoot that lion and the problem is gone. But wolves are pack animals. Even taking out the alphas might not solve a problem, if the whole pack has learned an aberrant behaviour, such as killing livestock. And wolves stalk their prey. Maybe that's what people find so disturbing about them. The cunning, the study, the psychological game of cat and mouse that the wolf likes to play. Maybe there's something in the personality of wolves that reminds us of ourselves, and people find that offensive. <-Ain't he go-jus? Whatever it is, its something that the people of North America brought over with them when they came from Europe and Asia. When North America was first settled wolves ranged the entirety of the continent, excluding only the deepest parts of the south. Before they were protected in the 1960's they were trapped and killed nearly to extirpation (or local extinction, as there were still plenty of wild wolves in Canada, Alaska, and parts of Europe) with as much as a 14 dollar bounty on their heads. Early trappers didn't much care what else they killed either, and some used poison laced carrion (usually strychnine) which could kill fifty wolves in one night, not to mention the ravens, coyotes and other scavengers it attracted. Sometimes the poison seeped into the ground and even poisoned the grass, long after the carcass was gone, and deer and elk would die. Long after that the bones of the dead animals might be chewed by another, and it too might die. By the time wolf recovery came around wolves were holding out in a very small population in northern Minnesota, but had been otherwise removed from the lower 48 states. Today helped in part by Defenders of Wildlife's program which reimburses ranchers who lose stock to depredation wolf populations in the two main reintroduction sites in Yellowstone Natl. Park and Idaho are well up, and I'm proud to be a member of their "Adopt a wolf pup" program. I've also adopted a Bison, but though I am heartened that wolves have once again begun hunting their most fearsome natural prey in Yellowstone, I hope my wolf pup and my bison never meet! So what is to stop the Grey Wolf from spreading further? Habitat encroachment for one. Game Hunting for another. In Alaska and Canada its still legal to hunt or trap wolves, but not so in the lower 48. So aside from wolves killed through the 'lethal control' plan which eliminates stock killers and other potential problem animals, wolves have to deal with human hunters sharing their food source. Only to the average human hunter it isn't a food source, is it? Its just a pretty rack of antlers to hang on the wall. I've actually had someone spot my 'adopt a wolf pup sticker' and read me the riot act about how wolves kill elk, which rightfully belong to human hunters. Right buddy. There ARE people who still hunt for food. And for them I'm sorry if Mr. Wolf got there first. But before we go shooting wolves for killing elk, why don't we say...limit hunting licenses for SPORT hunter's first? I mean, my god, what would you poor big game hunters do if you couldn't go out and kill something? Maybe play a video game. Try Deer Hunter. As for those of you out there who appreciate our wolves, I urge you to go to the Defenders of Wildlife's 'take action!' page and help stop them from exterminating wolves in the lower 48, and stop the barbaric aerial gunning in alaska! We still need 100,000 actions for halting aerial gunning to reach our goals!

Hooray for progress!

California Congressman George Miller (D) introduce the PAW (Protect America's Wildlife) Act last week and motivated 14 thousand+ new activists to speak out against Aerial Gunning in Alaska, and generated scads of media coverage on the topic. Defenders of Wildlife has posted several ads and mini-documentaries on their YouTube account exposing the gruesome secrets behind the bloodthirsty sport of aerial gunning.
I'll be honest with you, I couldn't watch the whole video myself. To see those beautiful animals running in fear from something they have no hope of escaping is more than I can bear. I also learned something disturbing from this video...all along I have been assuming that aerial gunners were using high powered rifles to gun the wolves down...not so. The distant blast of a 12 gauge shotgun is often not as potent as a single high caliber bullet. Wounded and frightened, the wolves often run until they bleed to death, or pain and fear wear them out, and the plane lands for the final blow. Then the wolves are dismembered or strung up as trophies.
While I wouldn't like to see even the lowliest toad strung up in such a manner, it pains me to no end to see such magnificent creatures as our wolves treated so poorly.
Help us continue to speak out against aerial gunning, inviting your congressmen to support the PAW Act, and provide crucial funding for Defenders to continue to run their life-saving Anti-Gunning ads.

Outrageous! Alaska's Anti-Wolf Propaganda

From Defenders of Wildlife newsletter: "It’s simply outrageous. Alaska Governor Sarah Palin has signed off on a $400,000 state-funded propaganda campaign to justify the state’s barbaric wolf slaughter from the skies."
Kay, call me a neophyte when it comes to understanding the workings of the government but here's what I just can't get. How can a government official justify spending FOUR HUNDRED THOUSAND of her taxpayers (or is that all us taxpayers? hm) dollars to fund a propaganda campaign AGAINST what the voters have voted for (and been somehow ignored) repeatedly? Doesn't anyone look at government expense reports and go "Hey, that doesn't make sense. She just spent a whole boatload of voters money to do something the voters voted against." Someone define "Democracy" for me again?
Most of the time I try to keep from getting political but it gets harder and harder as I become more and more frustrated with a system of government which will eventually get all of us killed. Yes, the republicans too. No one will be safe. I should start a whole other blog for my political ranting but I admit I don't know enough about politics to say much of intelligence. But I do know right from wrong, and this sort of abuse of power and squandering of taxpayers money, not to mention the heinous slandering of wolves is NOT RIGHT!
In Norse mythology, Ragnarok will be heralded by the wolves Skoll, Hati and Fenrir, who will devour the Moon, the Sun, and the Gods. But Alaska's wolves are not the demons in this tale, Governor Palin. YOU ARE.

Keep Wolves in Yellowstone!

Hi,
I just took action to stop one of the worst wolf massacres in decades -- and I hope you will, too.
It's easy to help. Just go to the website below to take action:
http://action.defenders.org/northernrockieswolves
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has proposed to strip wolves of crucial Endangered Species Act protections in the Northern Rockies. Such a plan would allow Wyoming and Idaho to move forward with plans to eliminate as many wolves as possible within their borders.
Please help me save these magnificent animals. Tell the federal government to maintain federal protections for gray wolves by sending a message at the website below:
http://action.defenders.org/northernrockieswolves Help generate 200,000 comments to federal officials -- take action at the website above, then forward this message on to others who care about wildlife.
These wolves are in trouble. But, together, I know we can save them. I hope you'll help...
Thanks!

There, Defenders said to send it to five friends, hopefully I have reached at least that many people through this blog.

To be perfectly honest, and I love wolves, but I'm begining to feel like I'm beating a dead horse with this issue. For some reason beyond my ken wolves are one of the most revered, and most hated animals in the animal kingdom. There are people who would die to keep them, and people who would kill to be rid of them. Even if you aren't a wolf fanatic, most sane people will admit that wolves have their place in our world, just like every thing else nature has molded. Literally hundreds of thousands of people have already poured their heart and soul into pleading with officials to save wolves, be it in Idaho, Wyoming, New Mexico, or Alaska. How can anyone else take what they love away from them?

Wolves are killers. They are predators of the most elite variety. Cunning. Bold. Ruthless.

But they are also animals who love and respect one another. Caring. Nuturing. Family.

Truth be told, wolves are a lot like us.

Someone said once (and of course I can't remember who) "Wolves are people too."

There you have it.

Wolves are people too.

North America's Wolves on the chopping block!

This is one of those really timely topics that always has me on edge. We have until the end of March to help put an end to aerial gunning in Alaska, as well as some Northwestern states plans to immediately eradicate wolves as soon as the government lifts the protections that have allowed wolf recovery to take place in the Rocky Mountains.

After the government and charitable organizations have spent years and uncountable (I'm sure SOMEONE is counting, but it isn't me) amounts of money attempting to insure that one of America's keystone species survives, it is completely amazing that they would then allow local government officials to expend enormous amounts of money to turn around and simply KILL the animals that others have worked so hard to save. And for absolutely, positively, No Good Reason. Alaskan Governor Sarah Palin is even offering a 150 dollar bounty for wolves killed within designated 'management' zones, and also left open the possibility of allowing hunters to use not only fixed-wing aircraft but helicopters to gun the animals down, despite the fact that Alaskan voters have twice voted to restrict aerial gunning of wolves! We aren't alone in this cause, however. One of Defenders of Wildlife's generous donors has agreed to double all contributions made before 5 pm on Monday (up to 24,000 dollars.) To help halt this travesty go to Defenders' Action page and make your contribution now!

Meanwhile in the lower 48, Idaho and Wyoming are gearing up to kill 2/3 of their state's wolf populations if the government decides to reduce or remove protections placed on the animals. This means that any wolf who sets paw outside a wildlife refuge or national park in these states could be shot on sight. This is not people killing wolves in protection of themselves or even livestock. This is people killing wolves because wolves somehow offend them, and they just want them gone. Personally I equate the situation to this: the president of a home owners association spends a lot of money to advertise the benefits of living in her neighborhood, thereby attracting new home owners. Then she decides she doesn't like these new people in her neighborhood. Now these people haven't bothered her. They're just living where they should, minding their own business. But Madame President doesn't want them so much as LOOKING toward her perfectly manicured front lawn. So if one of them pokes their head out the door she shoots them! Thats exacally how insane Idaho and Wyoming's so-called wolf 'management' plans are. Not to mention that these states are also considering aerial gunning. Please continue to show your support for the Rocky Mountain grey wolf, America's iconic predator and one of the main attractions at our largest National Park, Yellowstone.

Another beauty from DCR Images. Don't let these magnificent animals be hunted and harrassed to the brink of extinction!

More beautiful artwork by Shevin. The Wolf and the Bald Eagle are icons of America.