The Republican vice presidential nominee’s Alaskan administration has not only supported the aerial hunting of adult wolves, but also the slaughter of their pups.

Sarah Palin’s record is not very favorable for wildlife. She’s put efforts into undoing federal wildlife protections for polar bears and beluga whales in order to protect oil and gas drilling operations, for example. But her position on wolf hunting is perhaps the most controversial.

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. A Defenders of Wildlife ad illustrating this process is available at ClimateProgress.

Even worse, now Palin’s administration is allowing its “Department of Wildlife Conservation” to enter into wolf dens and slaughter wolf pups, even though Alaska law specifically prohibits this activity (Regulation 5AAC 92.110(i)). According to Defenders of Wildlife:

“Over the past year, the state has produced several publications as part of its $400,000 public education campaign designed to inform Alaskans about the facts of its programs. Our scientific and legal review of this information has found similar omissions of critical information including overstating the impact of predation on moose and caribou populations and failing to recognize the importance of other limiting factors. The state’s recent omission of important facts regarding its control efforts in its ‘public education’ materials appears to be clearly intentional and designed to influence the vote on the pending ballot measure regarding the aerial hunting of wolves and bears. One has to wonder if the department tried to keep the killing of these wolf pups under wraps because of the upcoming vote.

It would be an understatement to say the Palin Administration’s wildlife and environmental record leaves something to be desired.

Sources: Democratic Courage, Climate Progress, Defenders of Wildlife

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Image courtesy of In Defense of Animals