PRESS RELEASE

NEW TV AD EXPOSES PALIN'S FIGHT AGAINST POLAR BEAR PROTECTIONS

Defenders Action Fund asks, "Do we really want another Vice President with these values?"

Watch the TV ad

Washington, DC ---Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund today launched the next installment of its campaign to expose Gov. Palin’s (R-AK) extreme anti-environmental record, with a new TV ad focusing on her efforts to block endangered species protections for the endangered polar bear. If she succeeds, US citizens will once again be allowed to hunt and kill polar bears in Canada, and bring back their body parts as trophies.

“Sarah Palin’s active opposition to protections for polar bears is yet another example of her inability to listen and act upon scientific facts and evidence,” said Defenders Action Fund president, Rodger Schlickeisen. “This is very reminiscent of the Bush administration, and especially Dick Cheney, but in this case even the Bush Interior Department admits that the polar bear requires these protections.”

Recent findings by the US Geological Survey showed that polar bears are suffering from a loss of habitat, due to global warming, findings that Alaska’s own state scientists agreed with. But in May this year, Palin’s administration announced its intention to sue the federal government over its decision to protect the polar bear, and in August it filed its lawsuit. Besides curtailing polar bear trophy imports, the new protections restrict oil and gas exploration in certain areas of prime polar bear habitat. Unsurprisingly, oil companies are along side Gov. Palin in their vehement opposition to the protections.

“Palin is proud of her party’s ‘drill, baby, drill’ chant, and she is the embodiment of that narrow-minded attitude. But that chant will have real and dire consequences for the highly endangered polar bear if she becomes Vice President, or possibly President,” continued Schlickeisen. “As our ad asks, ‘can we really afford another Vice President with these values?’”

The voiceover for the TV ad was provided by actor and activist, Ashley Judd. Her support of Defenders Action Fund’s work, and her passion for protecting wolves, polar bears and other imperiled wildlife, led her to contact the organization directly to offer her help. Said Ms. Judd, “First it was the shameless slaughter of wolves, and now it is the heartbreaking plight of the polar bears. Can you imagine this woman exerting her influence as Vice President?!”

The new ad follows on a widely viewed TV ad about Palin’s support for aerial wolf killing in Alaska. The polar bear ad will be seen in Virginia and other swing states, in conjunction with the hard-hitting wolf ad.

Watch the TV ad

###

The Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund (www.defendersactionfund.org) 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.