IMPORTANT: Date change to Saturday, April 9, 2022.

The controversy over the 500 surviving wild Tule elk and the ten times more 5,000 privately- exploited-for-profit cows at Point Reyes National Seashore is heating up again.  

After months of relative calm, the next big citizen action — a “Hazardous Waste Walk” — is set for 11 am - 2 pm on Saturday, April 9, 2022 at Kehoe Beach in Point Reyes park.

SIGN UP to join the “Hazardous Waste Walk” on the Facebook Event Page.

This action is safe, legal, organized and peaceful. It is open to all Tule elk protectors and national park advocates who want to see Point Reyes Seashore’s beloved Tule elk set free.

Not only animal advocates, and not only national park fans, but almost everyone knows that wild elk shouldn’t be trapped behind fences inside a national park! This is all the more true when the elk are suffering and dying by the hundreds from thirst and hunger because the fences keep them from food and water during the summer-autumn drought, which will be once again returning to Point Reyes in just a few months.

At least 223 of the beloved elk, a major tourist attraction at Point Reyes Seashore, have died in just the last two years.

Elk are confined for just one reason: to increase private cattle rancher profits by ensuring a few hundred wild elk don’t compete for forage (edible vegetation) with thousands of for-profit cattle. (Ranchers already receive large government subsidies, including leases at half market-value rates. Ranchers don’t even own the land, the public does.)

And these 5,000 privately-exploited cattle are the park’s number one source of water, soil and ocean pollution and must be moved out. These cattle produce about 8,000,000 gallons of feces and urine each year which poisons and smothers the soil, and gets washed by winter rains into waterways and Pacific Ocean beaches, affecting thousands of other mammals and fish and birds.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION:

Ranchers were paid millions of dollars decades ago to leave, but have since lobbied Washington politicians, contorting National Park Service policies to benefit cattle operations, and fence and even kill Tule elk.

Point Reyes is the only national park unit in the country with dairies operating inside, where only wildlife and wildlands belong.  But the elk are confined with fences because ranchers don’t want any elk on the public parkland they lease from the government.

As a result of confinement, especially inside the so-called “Tule Elk Reserve,” 223 elk have died in just the last two years.

The Reserve is, in effect, a large zoo-like enclosure lacking adequate year-round food and water. Some elk die of thirst. Some starve to death. And nutrient-deficient female elk give fewer births; would-be mothers can’t get pregnant, or carry their babies to term.

Horrifically, this is all part of the National Park Service’s “management” policy for the rare Tule elk entrusted to itscare. (There are under 6,000 Tule elk on Earth, all in California.)

Come join us for the Hazardous Waste Walk  to free the elk, move out the cattle, and clean up Point Reyes National Seashore.

What: Hazardous Waste Walk
Where: Kehoe Beach at Point Reyes National Seashore 
When: Saturday, April 9, 2022 from 11 am - 2 pm

More information here about what to bring, what to expect, and to RSVP.

In Defense of Animals fully expects and strongly urges all people involved in this campaign to act responsibly and lawfully and to respect the personal interests and privacy rights and concerns of any individuals who may be affected by, or become the subject of, your protests or related efforts.