Under the cover of night, animal activists carried water bottles and water troughs over the rough terrain of Point Reyes National Seashore in California to help hundreds of rare elk at risk of dying of thirst.
Careful not to get spotted by park rangers, they worked to set up the two troughs, which would provide 150 gallons of water to the thirsty mother Tule elk and their babies.
The trapped Tule elk population at this park are dying of thirst due to a severe drought that has nearly dried up their water sources. The National Park Service (NPS) has refused to provide relief to these suffering animals, according to the nonprofit In Defense of Animals.
Nearly 450 Tule elk live on this 2,000-acre reserve, reported the Los Angeles Times. The elk are trapped behind an 8-foot fence that keeps them from roaming freely into grazing land leased to dairy and meat ranchers. The NPS has reportedly rejected offers from animal welfare organizations to provide emergency water.
At least six elk have allegedly died of thirst over the past few weeks, according to In Defense of Animals.
The NPS has a contingency plan for when the water sources completely dry up, according to ABC7. But the one remaining water source in the park is dangerous for the elk to access, and one female elk died attempting to get to it.
NPS is putting the interests of cattle farmers above those of the native animals the national park is supposed to protect, animal welfare groups claim.
“This effort is only necessary because the Tule elk are purposely trapped behind a fence,” said Fleur Dawes of In Defense of Animals in a press release. “NPS is actively preventing them from searching for water and foraging for food because the park’s cattle and dairy ranchers don’t want the few hundred wild elk competing with their thousands of for-profit cows—even though they are inside a national park.”
Lady Freethinker applauds the heroic and compassionate actions of these local activists. But they’re only a temporary solution, and more must be done to ensure the elk don’t die of starvation and thirst.
Contact the Superintendent of the Seashore Carey Feierabend at [email protected] and demand that water be provided to these elk to prevent future death and suffering.
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God please punish all who treat animals this way
Unconscionable, inhumane, cruel, and monstrous.
Disgusting treatment. This is not acceptable
I think if we made these people go without water maybe they would start helping these animals
It’s beyond depraved cruelty to NOT allow WATER access to the Elk, along with other Animals — WHO in their right mind hires sadistic, irrational, merciless Humans to CARE FOR Animals! — something is very wrong here — groveling to Cattle Ranchers’ desire for profits is NOT the job of Park Rangers — the NPS is NOT a bank — WHO takes care of our delicate Eco-System? — WHO takes care of the magnificent Animals who call our Parks their home! — we MUST PROTECT our Animals — we MUST PROTECT our Planet.
Get a clue Trump, you mindless moron. ANY life is more important than money. I respected you when you were younger. Now I think that you’re an ignorant piece of sh*t. God is watching and your days are numbered.
Please provide water to elk. Letting them die of thirst is cruel and unnecessary.
Hey Mr Trump why dont you help Animals oh l forgot you love killing animals with all the money you got you could help
And the rich and famous.
Thank you to the kind humans who gave them water l will not forget you, you will go to heaven.
Animal Lives Matter
love from uk
i think it is awful to let this poor animal suffer
What are these lazy officials being paid for?
Of course the park’s first interest is for the fat-assed, money-grabbing profiteering ranchers and their cattle and sheep. Never mind the LOCAL WILDLIFE, they can be left to die of thirst and starvation….got to keep the ranchers happy!!! Just like the BLM that wants to wipe out ALL the wild horses and burros, just so their friends, the ranchers again, can have the grazing lands. How can anyone who is SUPPOSED to be protecting the national heritage stand and watch animals dying AND DO NOTHING??? Shame on them for allowing this ‘intentional’ killing to carry on.
Please end the suffering of those elks and give them water for Gods sake. How can anyone not care? How can the authorities be so ignorant? Please help those animals.
I wouldn´t call these people park rangers. How can they leave these poor animals to die by thirst? Please provide water to those poor creatures!
I demand that water be provided to these elk to prevent future death and suffering.
Please save these Animals, do everything you can.
Save these beautiful animals!
It’s unbelievable how some people can be so uncaring and heartless! This is a serious matter that must be addressed by those that have the power to do something about it!
Typical that these wonderful animals are prevented from straying onto cattle grazing ground. It is the rearing of cattle that is a major contribution to global warming and the deforestation of the rain forests, particularly in Brazil. We need to stop putting beef at the top of the agenda when it comes to food production – this love of beef will be the death of many species and the loss of 100s of 1000s of acres of forest land, cleared for cattle grazing. But, as usual, profit comes first. No point in having loads of money if the planet is burnt to the ground – you can’t eat money!!
please provide these beautiful Elks with water, they have done nothing wrong so why are they behind a fence. They should be able to enjoy LIFE as GOD.intended. PLEASE have a HEART and give these elks water!!
Please try as much as possible to leave water for all of these poor animals suffering in these horrible fires.
Please try as much as possible to leave water for all of these poor animals suffering in these horrible fires.
Sad to see an animal in these conditions I don´t like.
Unfortunatelymy normally principled and environmentally voting US Representative, Jared Huffman, along with notorious anti-nature and antiwildlife Utah rep Rob Bishop, teamed up to prolong the continued grazing of cattle, excluding these Tule Elk from watered areas last year in the Point Reyes National Seashore.
This area had already had an agreement in place to REMOVE the cattle ranching and end the exclusion man years ago.
As usual, the corrupt control the USA, and it has been extended.
Tule Elk are the smallest Cervus species, once inhabiting all California coastal valleys, and the Central Valley wetlands – the 95% of CA’s wetlands that has been drained and expropriated for commercial agriculture, and in recent decades, for endless excessive houses and cement.
The Tule Elk were once immensely prolific, from the Oak savannas to the “tules,” a term referencing the tall reeds of those wetlands.
Originally as far south as Ventura, the last Tule Elk survive in Point Reyes, one tiny area in Lake county and an introduced population in Inyo county survive at all- at over 4000 feet in Owens Valley, they have thriven in the latter area ( the Lake co. range is small and oppressed by private land), which means, of course, that they are shot for aberrant pleasure in that narrow valley on the eastern side of the Sierras.
Having lived just above Owens Valley when their population was tiny, I’d long wondered why many were not relocated to parts of their native range.
But one supposes that those loving real estate cash above life, will be pleased to know that real estate and concrete prosper in over 99% of the Tule Elk’s home.
If they are trapped by human fences, so humans are responsible for their lives. How someone can be indiferent to a thirsty animal? It´s a crime! So cruel! Please, help them.
HELP THEM!!!!
Please remember that these are lives! They matter!
“The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.”
― Mahatma Gandhi
The BLM and U.S. Forest Service are killing wild horses, and now the National Park Service is killing rare wild elk certainly, and other animals incidentally. Why is there a nationwide assault on our wildlife? We Americans must demand answers!
That is totally senseless. The state should do something about it.
Leave alone the innocent animals motherfucker bastards
I just sent an e-mail.
PLEASE HELP THESE ANIMALS!
Water is life.
Those denying wildlife water, who are charged with their care, should be removed from their post, prosecuted and serve jail time.
C’est une honte, un crime de laisser mourir de faim et de soif un animal qui ne peut s’abreuver nulle part, car piégé par les clôtures, que ceux qui ne font rien pour empêcher cela imaginent leur propre mort de cette façon si terrible !
Hopefully the intellectual laziness of these decision makers will be changed along with their hearts and minds.
Water the tule elks, for heaven’s sake!
please fix this situation now!
please fix this situation now!
this is so wrong
Wake up
Please USA so called Civilized nation, show the world that you care for the vulnerable sentient beings as well. EVERY LIFE WHO IS ALIVE AND BREATHING MUST BE RESPECTED AS SAME AS OTHERS. EVERY LIFE MATTERS. There aren’t any shape, size, color matters. THEY ARE ‘ALL ‘ LIVING BEINGS.
I’ve sent an email to the Superintendent. It was shocking to discover that these elk are dying of thirst, trapped behind a high fence that prevents them from getting at the water supplies. Why for-profit dairy and meat cattle are on NPS park land is a mystery to me, especially when the park’s native species are now suffering and dying as a result.
Please help the elk
So why aren’t is the national park service not doing their job!?! What is the dire excuse to not provide water for the wildlife? Last time I checked that’s part of the job! They’re not doing the job! Fire each one in the department!
So sad that this is what man has devolved to!!!
Please help these animals.
This doesn’t have to happen!
and this is what park official get paid to do? with tax dollars a true disgrace
Please help these poor Elk