Save the Tule Elk!

Protesters stick their hands through the fence of the tule elk preserve at Point Reyes National Seashore to represent the elk attempting to break free as part of a demonstration Sunday. Activists claim the fenced-in elk are being neglected by the National Park Service. (Douglas Zimmerman/Special to the Marin Independent Journal)

California is on fire. Thousands of animals are at risk of death, including the rare and protected Tule elk. This dwindling species, native only to California, is clinging onto existence. Many are locked up inside the Pierce Point Elk Reserve, a narrow strip of land on the northern edge of Point Reyes National Seashore. The whole area is cloaked in smoke. All of the visible water ponds have run dry.

When the ponds last dried up, more than 250 elk died of thirst. 6 have died in the past 3 weeks.

This is a life and death emergency. The elk need your urgent help! Please donate using this link: https://www.facebook.com/donate/1265096490500522/10220934964477473/

Natural access to fresh drinking water and grazing lands has been cut off from the elk. Their habitat has been surrendered slowly over decades to meat and dairy ranchers expanding their grazing operations. They have been fenced in. The only regular sources of fresh water for these critically protected animals are small stock ponds. The National Park Service is supposed to regularly refill and maintain these ponds so the elk can survive.

During the long drought season in 2015, the National Park Service failed to refill these crucial water sources resulting in half the herd of elk dying from thirst. Imagine dying of thirst while fenced away from nearby streams and pastures that had kept generations of Tule elk thriving for thousands of years. Imagine watching elk struggle and die of hunger and thirst while allowing cattle to drink and graze so that dairy and meat farmers can get rich!

In Defense of Animals has been an advocate for these unique elk for decades. They are struggling to survive as their habitat is lost to the meat and dairy industries. We are currently fighting farmers’ plans to gun down these amazing animals.

As if the situation could not get any worse for these elk, the Park Service is now struggling with wildfires that have engulfed Point Reyes. The temperature is steadily climbing, and the stock ponds that are essential to keeping vulnerable Tule elk alive are once again drying up!

We must act now!

Just $5 today could mean the difference between life and death for threatened Tule Elk!