POINT REYES NATIONAL SEASHORE, Calif. (May 6, 2024) — In Defense of Animals is rallying its most enthusiastic support for dismantling the deadly 3-mile-long fence of the Tule Elk Reserve at Point Reyes National Seashore during a public comment period which ends on June 5. 

The National Park Service (NPS) has proposed this action, recognizing the critical need for the elk to move outside the 2,600-acre Reserve, and roam freely across more of the park’s 71,000 acres, which would increase their access to food, water and more natural breeding. In Defense of Animals is calling for elk fans and protectors, and all nature enthusiasts to submit a public comment to the NPS.

The removal of the fence would create a healthier, more natural life for both the Tule elk herd in the Reserve, as well as the park’s two other smaller herds. This would mark a pivotal and historic step in ending a 45-year-old policy of confining Tule elk, and a first step toward healing land outside the Reserve that has been damaged by decades of cattle ranching.

This is why In Defense of Animals and tens of thousands of the organization’s supporters are strong advocates of removing all the privately-owned cattle operations which are this national park unit’s greatest source of land degradation, water contamination (by cattle feces and urine) and greenhouse gas emissions much of it in the form of methane — which traps anywhere from 20-80 times more heat than the CO2 from the park’s visitor vehicles. Beef and dairy operations occupy a full one-third of the entire Seashore, effectively closing off 28,000 acres of public land to visitors with 300 miles of additional cattle fencing, damaging coastal ecosystems and negatively impacting wildlife, including the Tule elk.

“We urge the public to full-throatedly voice their support one more time, right now, to dismantle the 8-foot-tall elk fence, and finally free these beautiful, gentle animals to roam more freely, as they should inside a national park,” said Tule elk consultant and environmental activist, Jack Gescheidt. “Freeing the elk at Point Reyes is a first big, essential step in re-wilding Point Reyes along with ousting the park’s biggest polluters, which is the heavily-subsidized ranches. Ranches milk the public for millions of dollars every year in the form of heavy taxpayer subsidies.”

Public comments are crucial in driving the ecological restoration of this National Seashore which is still being heavily damaged by private cattle businesses. Everyone is encouraged to participate in this survey and express their support for a fence-free, cattle-free Point Reyes National Seashore.

The public comment period closes at 10:59 p.m. PT on Wednesday, June 5, 2024. More general information about the Tule elk's plight is available at www.idausa.org/elk.

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For more information, interviews, or for a tour of the Tule Elk Reserve’s infamous 3-mile-long, 8-foot-tall fence that’s in the news, contact Jack Gescheidt. Landline (no texts): 415-488-4200 or email: jackg@idausa.org

Latest information on the current Tule elk status: https://www.idausa.org/campaign/wild-animals-and-habitats/tule-elk/latest-news/tulk-elk-point-reyes-update

In Defense of Animals is an international animal protection organization with over 250,000 supporters and a 40-year history of protecting animals, people, and the environment through education, campaigns, and hands-on rescue facilities in California, India, South Korea, and rural Mississippi. Find more information about In Defense of Animals’ Tule elk campaign: www.idausa.org/elk

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