FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
What is the difference between Defenders of Wildlife and the Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund organization?
Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund is organized under Section 501(c)(4) of the tax code. As such, it can lobby and engage in unlimited work to influence legislative action. Because of this, the Action Fund is not a charitable organization, unlike its sister organization, Defenders of Wildlife, which is a 501(c)(3).
What does Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund do?
The Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund provides a powerful voice in Washington to Americans who value our conservation heritage. Through grassroots lobbying, issue advocacy and political campaigns, the Action Fund champions those laws and lawmakers that protect wildlife and wild places while working against those that do them harm.
How can I donate?
You may donate online, over the phone by calling 1-800-425-4632, or by sending a check to:
Defenders of Wildlife Action FundP.O. Box 7004
Merrifield, VA 22116-7004
For donations of $10 or more you will become a Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund member. Your donation may be used for political purposes such as supporting or opposing candidates. Defenders Action Fund does not accept contributions from corporations or labor organizations.
Are donations to Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund tax deductible?
Donations to the Action Fund are not tax deductible.
Is my credit card information safe when I give online?
Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund goes to great lengths to ensure the confidentiality and integrity of any personal information you share with us over the Internet.
Our sites use Secure Socket Layer (SSL) technology, the industry standard security technology, to safeguard your credit card and other financial information. Our donation pages display the Verisign Secure Site Seal to assure you that our Web site is authentic and that all transactions are secured by SSL encryption. If you are making a donation, the credit card information that you provide is used only to process your donation and will not be used by us for any other purposes.
How can I check and see how my Representative/Senators voted on a wildlife or wild lands issue?
If you want to know how your U.S. Representative and Senators voted on wildlife and conservation issues, please visit: www.defendersactionfund.org and click on "Report Card". Enter in your zip code in order to view how your legislators voted on a certain number of wildlife and wild lands votes that have occurred in Congress. To find information on other votes, please go to http://www.house.gov/ for the U.S. House of Representatives and http://www.senate.gov/ for the U.S. Senate.
How do I find my Senators/U.S. Representative's contact information/e-mail/telephone number?
If you want the direct e-mail address for your legislators, use our scorecard to get your member's full profile page. It's easy to find their contact information by just entering your home zip code.
Why does Sarah Palin pursue/allow the aerial hunting of wolves?
The primary reason for the program, given by the State of Alaska, is that wolves and bears are threatening caribou and moose populations and that subsistence hunters depend on these game populations for food.
But what Governor Palin fails, or refuses, to acknowledge is that the moose and caribou populations are healthy and that wolves and bears have co-existed with these species for thousands of years. She and her allies want to artificially boost game populations in order to grow more moose and caribou for all kinds of hunters including urban residents not dependent on these resources for food but also for out of state hunters who pay large fees to hunt in Alaska. Also unacknowledged is that ultimately the moose and caribou will suffer from this unscientific policy. Scientists and wildlife experts overwhelmingly agree that artificially inflated caribou and moose populations become are more at risks to disease and malnutrition as a result of a shortage of food. Also, while hunters often take the larger, more impressive animals, wolves tend to target weaker, less resilient ones. This process of natural selection ensures that it is the stronger animals that breed, thereby making the overall population stronger and less prone to disease. Hunters, however, can have the opposite effect on prey populations.
While Governor Palin states publicly that greater numbers of moose and caribou are needed to feed Alaskans, her actual policies contradict her assertions. Palin actually opposes “rural preference” which gives true subsistence hunters priority access over sport hunters in the areas where aerial killing is conducted. She even filed an appeal in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals to block the Cheesh-na Tribal Council from expanding the tribe’s subsistence hunting in key areas. And most tellingly, it is sport hunter groups that are the biggest advocates of aerial killing, not advocates for the poor and hungry.
Last year, Defenders of Wildlife presented a letter to Governor Palin from nearly 200 scientists and wildlife experts, disputing the science she claims supports the aerial killing program. Yet, she continues to promote it.
Why is Sarah Palin allowed to do this? Aren't wolves in Alaska on the Endangered Species List?
Wolves in Alaska are not, and have never been, protected under the Endangered Species Act (ESA), and therefore the state has management authority. Although some specific areas of Alaska do have alarmingly low wolf populations, overall they are fairly healthy in number.
Our objections to the aerial killing program are based on the lack of science used to implement this program, and the reasons the state gives for killing the wolves. Their goal is to artificially boost the number of moose and caribou by taking out their natural predators. But, as many scientists and wildlife biologists have pointed out to Governor Palin, creating this imbalance could have dire effects on the overall ecosystem.
How can I contact Sarah Palin?
To send Governor Palin an email, fill out the form at http://actionfund.defenders.org/eyeonpalin_action
If you would like to make a phone call instead, call the Governor’s Juneau office on (907) 465-3500.
What proof is there that Sarah Palin supports aerial hunting?
Governor Palin has stated on numerous occasions that she supports aerial hunting. In September 2007 Rep. George Miller introduced the Protect America’s Wildlife (PAW) Act to the US Congress - legislation that would end the aerial hunting of wolves – and Governor Palin publicly opposed the legislation. Read the Governor’s statement.
But more significantly, her wildlife policies in Alaska and political appointments all reveal her support for the program. The Alaska Board of Game, appointed by Governor Palin, consists solely of members who have ties to and sympathies for the hunting special interest groups in Alaska. No other interests, such as tourism and non-consumptive wildlife users, are represented on the Board. See the board of game members’ resumes.
The result of Governor Palin’s appointment of like-minded people to the Board of Game is that she can rely on them to approve her Administration’s increasingly extreme wildlife proposals. For more information on how the Board of Game and Alaska Department of Fish and Game have recently sought to expand aerial hunting, read the March 2009 press release from the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.
I can't donate money to help stop aerial hunting. What else can I do?
There are many ways in which you can help end the aerial hunting of wolves, and giving money is just one of them.
Your can make your voice heard by taking action through www.eyeonpalin.org. The action on this Defenders run website changes, depending on what stage of the campaign we in.
If you would like to send a message to Governor Palin, telling her to stop the aerial hunting of wolves, go to: http://actionfund.defenders.org/eyeonpalin_action. Or, make a phone call instead. Call the Governor's Juneau office on (907) 465-3500.
There are many ways to keep this issue in the public eye. Tips on writing a Letter to the Editor, organizing your own event, and other activities can be found at:
http://www.defenders.org/take_action/community_activism/index.php.
Thank you for your support.
I live outside the US so your website won't allow me to enter my address and take action. What can I do to support your campaign?
Unfortunately, our online forms are not able to accommodate the details of non-U.S. residents. We apologize for this inconvenience. If you would still like to make your views known to Governor Palin, we suggest that you call her office directly on (907) 465-3500.
Thank you for your support.
Are wolves in Alaska killing humans?
According to a 2002 study about wolf conflicts with humans, there is not one documented case of a healthy, wild wolf killing a human in the United States.
By comparison, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate between 10 to 20 people are killed and 4.7 million people are attacked each year by man's best friend, the domestic dog.
Overall, any notion that wild wolves pose a distinct threat to humans is unsupported by statistical and historic data.