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The fate of California’s Tule elks are in jeopardy! The U.S. Senate will soon vote on a bill that would kill Tule elks in their natural habit to make even more room for the greed of dairy and cattle ranchers. If this bill is passed, all the vulnerable elks who comprise this rare species will die. Please urge the Senate to reject H.R. 6687 now to save Tule elks!

California’s Point Reyes National Seashore has been subject to extensive development, stressing the remaining animals and making the plant and animal species who still manage to reside there extremely rare. Tule elk are the smallest subspecies of the North American elk, and these elks are only found in California’s coastal prairies. Plans to eliminate them from their natural habit are just one step away from becoming law.

This potentially devastating bill was introduced by Democratic California Representative Jared Huffman and Republican Rob Bishop of Utah in August and was rushed through the Republican-led House of Representatives on Sept 25. The U.S. Senate Subcommittee on National Parks will vote on this bill on Wednesday, December 12, which is our first new opportunity to stop it.

If we fail there, it will likely move to a full Senate floor vote very soon after. If the Senate approves this bill to become law, Ryan Zinke, the Secretary of the Interior, will authorize dairy and cattle ranchers to destroy the land of Point Reyes National Seashore for profit, therefore cruelly eradicating Tule elks and countless other animals and plants. This bill would also authorize the U.S. National Park Service to heartlessly evict or shoot Tule elk who conflict with commercial ranching operations. 

Ranchers have previously tried to fence Point Reyes Tule elks into specified areas to keep them away from ”their” cows, which resulted in the death of nearly half of the elk herd, when they were cut off from their primary water supply. When huge herds of cows are bred against their will and send out en masse into wild areas, they cannot help but pollute and dry up surrounding water sources, trample rare species of plants, and erode the land, rendering the area uninhabitable to many native species. Tule elks naturally roam to find food and water. Fencing them into specified areas prevents them from foraging, and sentences them to dehydration and starvation.

As this bill rapidly approaches the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on National Parks and then quite possibly the full floor of the Senate, we must work very hard and very quickly to stop it in its tracks. If passed, this devastating bill will surely sentence Tule elks to extinction. The individuals comprising this species needs protection as well as their species as a whole and their natural habitat should not be sold to the highest bidders.

What You Can Do:

This alert is no longer active, but here for reference. Animals still need your help.