4. Encouraging shooting of wolves from helicopters.
Palin has been a longtime supporter of Alaskan wolf hunting, arguing thatpredator-control programs are vital to maintaining healthy populations of moose and caribou (though she clearly doesn’t think of herself as a caribou predator who needs to be controlled). She authorized hunters to shoot wolves from helicopters and even to gas wolf dens to kill the pups. In 2007, her office announced that it would offer a $150 cash prize for turning in legs of freshly killed wolves.
Like their prey, some wolf populations have experienced declining numbers in Alaska in recent years. In Denali National Park and Preserve, a 6 million-acre swath of wilderness in the state’s interior, a 2014 count found just 51 wolves in 13 packs, the lowest number since wildlife biologists began counting them 30 years ago.