By Staci-lee Sherwood
Over the past four years there had been an epidemic of laws repealed by the Trump administration that were designed to protect our wild lands, wildlife and drinking water to name a few. Nearly 100 laws had been either repealed or added specifically to benefit hunters, ranchers and polluters. This was almost a daily onslaught of bad news with no end in sight.
Electing Biden was suppose to reverse that or at least the most egregious laws like H.R. 69 which was one of the first bills Trump signed and legalized the killing of wolf pups and hibernating bears and their cubs. The practice was often called ‘denning’ and one of the sickest practices hunters used. Once this bill passed even Alaskans were stunned that their long secretive practice was now legal. This was how low the US has stooped.
While hunting had long been a blight on public lands some species should be off limits, like those that are endangered and have legal protection against abuse and slaughter. It wasn’t that long ago that wolves were listed as endangered under the landmark bill the Endangered Species Act. Since 2016 several species have been removed despite obvious failure by the federal government’s agency USFWS (United States Fish Wildlife) which taxpayers pay to protect our wildlife. Some of these iconic species who lost protection but whose populations are far from sustainable are wolves, manatees, bald eagles and green sea turtles
These are our wild animals they belong to everyone NOT the minority who are hunters and trappers. The key word being OUR as in our public land our wild animals our drinking water. Clearly the federal agencies charged with protecting these like USFWS, EPA and BLM (Bureau of Land Management) have been so corrupted it’s more like an infestation that grows and smothers everything in its path like mold. Perhaps the only way to correct this is to burn it all down and start from scratch so to speak.
In 1999 wolves were finally put back where they belonged in Yellowstone National Park. It was a long battle to get them there with scientists, wolf advocates and environmentalists on one side battling the ranchers, miners and oil barons on the other who wanted to keep the wolves out so they could plunder and pollute without being hindered. A species with legal protection, and much admiration from the public, would be such a problem. For years these anti wolf and anti horse groups would spend millions buying off and into the very government agencies the public thought would protect the wolves, horses and bears. And they succeeded.
It didn’t take long for USFWS and the BLM to become so corrupted they were unrecognizable if you were looking for true conservation policies. They were a victim of a coup by some of the worst Americans around…. the hunters. It hasn’t been that many months since Deb Haaland was sworn in as the latest figurehead at the Dept of the Interior. Supposedly she was going to reverse the insanely cruel and over the top laws designed to cower to polluters and hunters. Turns out she’s as bad as Zinke was maybe worse.
Under her brief tenure she has expanded hunting on public lands, allowed wolf slaughter to go on unfettered at a rate that seems designed to cause them to go extinct and what’s left of our wild horses will soon be gone. We now have most of our ‘wild horses’ held prisoner in outdoor exposed corrals with no vet care barely any food or water who languish there for years. One could almost argue the wolves have it better dying a quick death instead of a slow torturous one.
One of the cruelest policies is the wild horse roundups where the helicopters literally hit the horses as they run for their lives breaking their legs, running into barbed wire and trampling foals. The sweethearts of this cruelty is the married couple Dave and Sue Cattoor who make a fortune torturing our horses. One can only assume that Haaland gets a cut from the money they make what else would be her motive to increase the roundups and ignore the suffering she inflicts aside from being a sadist ? One has to wonder.
Lucas Oil funds the cruelty as well, under the guise of helping farmers via a group called Protect the harvest. This lobby group has recruited the likes of b-actress Sharon Stone who, for a fee, mouths into the camera the joys of removing horses from public land. She touts the same false claims that horse advocates are to blame for ‘too many’ horses on the millions of acres of public land in the film ‘Running Wild’ produced by Lucas Oil founder Forrest Lucas. “Sharon Stone came in and worked for us because she liked the message herself, and there were a lot of other people there working for us, because they liked the message,” he said.
If appointing a native American to head the Dept of Interior was suppose to bring about a change and forward thinking in being good stewards of the land clearly it has not. Her selection was merely a political choice to bow to a particular sector of the public. Native Americans embraced Haaland simply because they thought she was one of them. In 2008 black Americans did the same thing with Obama and in 2016 women followed suit with Hillary Clinton. In all three cases much better candidates could and should have been brought forward but were not. Voting based on race and gender does not guarantee informed consent.
Since Haaland’s true colors have shown her to be just as much of a political hack as any other politician many activists have changed their views about native Americans and their causes. Off the record many have said they will no longer help since it’s now clear betrayal to our wildlife happens regardless of race or gender. You can thank Haaland for that she has rallied the crowds against helping native Americans once again. Though many will not speak out against her in public for fear of being called racist, in the age of ‘woke’ , her race has nothing to do with her actions. It’s just good ole fashioned double talk practiced by many a politician. It's obvious to all that she relies on her dna to squash any potential detractors from challenging her. We can only hope her tenure comes to a crashing end sooner rather than later our wildlife and public lands will be better off and safer once she’s gone.
If you would like to voice your complaints to the Department of Interior
Dept of Interior general number: 1-202-208-3100
Departmental Ethics Office Telephone 202-208-7960 E-mail DOI_Ethics@sol.doi.gov (all inquiries) doi_fdonline@sol.doi.gov (financial disclosure only)
To voice a complaint about ethics Bureau of Land Management
blm_wo_ethics_office@blm.gov & Edwin Shin E-mail edwin.shin@sol.doi.gov Telephone 202-208-2704
To voice your complaint about ethics U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Scott Currie E-mail scott.currie@sol.doi.gov Telephone 202-208-2151