“We’ll Howl Until Frank Murkowski Wakes Up,” Says Protester

New York City — Friends of Animals, an international animal advocacy organization, will be taking our Alaska tourism boycott to Rockefeller Center — the southwest corner of 49th St. and 5th Avenue — on Saturday, December 4th, from 12-3pm. The NYC protest is one of more than 43 new Howl-Ins planned for cities across the country and designed to impact Alaska’s summer 2005 tourism season.

Since November of 2003, pilots have obtained permits from state officials. One by one, with the assistance of low, slow-flying aircraft, airborne hunters have traced, tracked, chased, and killed over 150 wolves.

See our new video describing the chase here:

• Public Service Announcement

Although we oppose all killing methods, we note that this method of killing wolves had not been used since the late 1980s and is normally illegal in Alaska. But in spite of votes in which Alaskans opted to end same-day use of aircraft for public wolf hunting and trapping, the killing permits have Governor Frank Murkowski’s approval.

Last year, outraged when the state instituted this wolf-killing scheme, over 200,000 people pledged to boycott Alaska’s $2 billion-a-year tourism industry. But this winter, Alaska’s aerial wolf shooting has started up again, with a current target of up to 580 wolves.

“Frank Murkowski has a personal responsibility for each and every wolf killed,” said Edita Birnkrant, Campaign Coordinator for Friends of Animals in NYC, “And we’ll howl until Murkowski wakes up.”

Volunteers in the effort to stop this killing will collect New Yorkers’ signatures on post cards — cards which will later be sent to Frank Murkowski. Each card, deposited into a mailbox marked “Special Delivery for: Governor Frank Murkowski, Alaska,” is a pledge to boycott travel to Alaska until the state-sponsored wolf-killing ends.

Dogs who are comfortable in a busy city environment are welcomed to the event. One dog, a husky named Twig, has already reserved a spot at Saturday’s Howl-In.