ARCTIC shot up the charts to #1 last month at CKMS-FM in Waterloo, Ontario, ending the month at a solid #2. If you’re in southern Ontario, help keep it there by requesting some ARCTIC at (519) 884-2567!

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game recently shot and killed 14 adult wolves from the air - and then, finding a den full of 14 newly orphaned wolf pups, shot each pup in the head.

The process of staking out wolf dens is illegal, and it took weeks for the truth to come out about this slaughter. Aerial wolf killing is currently legal as part of a “wildlife management” program to increase moose and caribou herds for hunting.

If you want to see what both sides have to say, read the heated debate going on at the Fairbanks News-Miner’s website.

Watch this video from Defenders of Wildlife on Alaska’s aerial hunting program - then sign the petition to make them stop it.

There is good news for wolves in the Northwest, though - Washington State has confirmed spotting the first gray wolf pack in the area since the 1930s. Remote cameras captured photos of six wolf pups. Wolves are protected as an endangered species throughout Washington. In July, Rocky Mountain wolves were put back on the endangered species list again, forcing Idaho, Wyoming and Montana to cancel their hunts for the fall.

Remember the Exxon Valdez, the supertanker which dumped 11 million gallons of crude oil on the coast of Alaska in 1989? In June, the Supreme Court reduced the damages charged against Exxon from $2.5 billion down to $507 million, saying that punitive damage charges should match actual damage costs. From this we can learn that the 500,000 seabirds, 1,000 sea otters, 12 river otters, 300 harbour seals, 250 bald eagles, 22 orcas, and billions of salmon and herring eggs that died in the oil spill have no actual monetary value and are not worth taking into consideration.

And if we don’t watch it, this sort of thing could happen again. Bound and determined to drill somewhere, Bush has lifted a ban on offshore oil drilling. This does not yet mean that drilling can start, as the federal law will have to be changed first - and the Republicans are even willing to skip their recess to do it.

Take a quick look at what areas are affected, including marine sanctuaries - and look how small those sanctuaries actually are.

Read more about offshore drilling and, if you’re in the US, please sign this petition against lifting the moratorium.