While reading various accounts of the Bundy family takeover of the Malheur Wildlife Refuge in Oregon, I noted that People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) had dropped by to hand out vegan snacks to Ammon Bundy and his band of criminals.
I thought -- wow -- now there's a disconnect! Those of us who live in the Virgin Valley with the Bundys and their extreme religious and governmental ideology know all about their disrespect for animal life. Why would PETA show support by responding to their plea for snacks? So I contacted PETA to find out why it would feed seditionists committed to destroying a 100+ year federal sanctuary that protects fragile wildlife.
Here is PETA's press release:
Princeton, Ore. — The militant cattle ranchers currently occupying Malheur National Wildlife Refuge have appealed for snacks, and PETA is answering the call tomorrow with a hand-delivered package of vegan jerky that contains more protein than beef. The PETA staffers, bearing signs reading, "The End (of Animal Agriculture) Is Nigh: Get Out Now!" are suggesting that militia members learn to raise crops, not cows—allowing the many species of wild animals the refuge was designed to protect to thrive.
"People from all walks of life are increasingly appalled at the idea of slaughtering animals and realize, too, the harmful impact that animal agriculture has on the environment, so it's time to face facts," says PETA President Ingrid Newkirk. "These ranchers may have a beef with the feds, but their water use and the cattle's production of methane mean that the world needs them to get out of the beef business."
As noted by PETA, whose motto reads, in part, that "animals are not ours to eat," the Worldwatch Institute estimates that animal agriculture is responsible for 51 percent of human-caused greenhouse-gas emissions and the University of Chicago determined that switching to a vegan diet is more effective in countering climate change than switching from a standard American car to a hybrid.
For more information, please visit PETA.org.
I then spoke to Lindsay Rajt, a PETA spokesperson from Oakland, California, who personally delivered vegan jerky to Ammon Bundy. She said PETA believes in kindness and conversation instead of conflict. Rajt explained that delivering vegan fare (like no-meat chili) does not mean PETA supports Bundy's illegal grazing which destroys fragile habitat such as marshland. Nor does PETA approve of the illegal occupation of the Malheur Wildlife Refuge which was put into trust for all Americans. PETA's position is that ranchers can support themselves by raising crops instead of grazing and slaughtering cattle.
Rajt said she is fully aware the occupiers show disrespect for all life but their own, and noted that animals are getting lost in the media coverage.
THAT is something PETA and I can agree on -- the protection of wildlife and its habitat isn't getting the attention it deserves. Maybe PETA can help.
According to the World Wildlife Federation and its 2014 Living Planet Report, "Between 1970 and 2010 populations of mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish around the globe dropped 52 percent." I ask -- why, exactly, are we destroying animal life at such a rate?
Which brings me to the Malheur Wildlife Refuge. It was founded in 1908 by President Theodore Roosevelt through executive order. He acted because “In the late 1880s, plume hunters decimated North American bird populations in pursuit of breeding feathers for the hat industry. Hunters targeted large flocks of colonial nesting birds and shorebirds, killing birds indiscriminately and orphaning chicks. Eventually, the large numbers of colonial nesting birds on Malheur Lake were discovered by plume hunters. In 1908, wildlife photographers William L. Finley and Herman T. Bohlman discovered that most of the white herons (egrets) on Malheur Lake had been killed in 1898 by plume hunters. After 10 years, the white heron population still had not recovered.” U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Yesterday, the Bundy gang reportedly ripped out a fence that protects the refuge, which includes migrating populations of birds and waterfowl and its breeding habitat, where 58 species of mammals are protected, as well as amphibians, reptiles and fish. These destroyers of the public good believe the Malheur Wildlife Refuge is to be exploited as private ranch land instead of fulfilling its purpose as a federal wildlife refuge for all Americans to enjoy. I presume their plans also include hunting and unrestricted off road ATV recreational riding.
Which brings me to Gold Butte where Cliven Bundy illegally grazes an emaciated herd of (about 800) feral cattle that roam 350,000 acres (about the size of Delaware) in search of inadequate food and water. Since the April 2014 standoff with the Bureau of Land Management, which was enforcing court orders, Cliven Bundy and his sons have taken over Gold Butte and threaten BLM agents to stay out. Which they do.
During my phone conversation with Ms. Rajt, I explained that some have wanted PETA to come to Gold Butte and highlight the plight of these poor cows. I told her the unlucky ones fall into rock crevices where they can't get out, calves are birthed alone out in the desert, that cows wander all the way down to Lake Mead desperate for water. Of course if PETA or anyone else were to go out to Gold Butte, they would have to go incognito. They don't want to get caught by Cliven or his sons who questioned surveyors last summer, who were then shot at (twice!) when they didn't leave soon enough.
Gold Butte is designated an Area of Critical Environmental Concern and legislation has been introduced to increase its federal protection to National Conservation Area. Cows can be destructive, as is unregulated human activity, and Gold Butte is suffering in the hands of the Bundys. A damage assessment report was released recently to document the toll being taken on the area and its ecosystem.
So here we are. An extreme ideology with its roots in W. Cleon Skousen, the Wise Use Movement, the Sagebrush Rebellion has taken hold among many in the west, particularly elected officials and right wing media writers who give cover to these thugs. They demand all federal land be turned over to private parties for capitalization and profit -- development, mining, ranching, fracking, oil drilling, hunting, vehicle riding. Animals be damned. Ancient petroglyphs vandalized and gone forever -- so what?
Senator Harry Reid called it right -- those who steal and impose their will through the threat of violence are domestic terrorists. They hide behind women and children and dare the federal government to enforce the law. The Bundys and their ilk are on a rampage to take and exploit the land. Never mind it does not belong to them.
The destruction of our precious wildlife is not part of the conversation and PETA thinks it should be, which is why their activists showed up in Oregon with vegan snacks. I'm not sure feeding delusional bullies like Ammon Bundy is the right tactic, however, but it did garner the organization some press.
I do hope activists at PETA get more engaged in this very ugly western battle over who is the proper steward of our public lands. The most vulnerable and voiceless are the animals who suffer the most. We need more advocacy for their protection if they are to survive into the future.
This piece was posted originally on Let’s Talk Nation HERE.