As we reported last year, Congressman Duncan Hunter (R-CA) helped to enact an NRA-backed law to save the 1100 Roosevelt Elk and Kaibab Mule Deer on Santa Rosa Island from court-ordered extermination.  Congresswoman Lois Capps (D-CA) and Senators Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and Barbara Boxer (D-CA) were outraged.  It was clear that they were not going to give up until every elk and mule deer on the island had been destroyed. 

This week, Senator Feinstein succeeded in inserting a provision into the Omnibus Appropriations Bill that repeals this animal-saving law.  This action, passed in the dark of night, reinstates the extermination order that must be carried out by 2011.  This is a terrible blow to wildlife conservation in America.   

Santa Rosa’s elk and mule deer are unique and invaluable because they are free from chronic wasting disease (CWD) and other ailments that threaten these species on the mainland.  Forty miles of Pacific Ocean ensures them an ideal sanctuary.  Senator Feinstein and the others have destroyed this last remaining insurance policy against losing these magnificent species if an epidemic strikes the mainland. 

This episode also proves beyond doubt that the Humane Society of the United States isn’t trying to “save” animals.  The radical anti-hunting group refused to utter a single word of opposition to the government-mandated slaughter of the elk and mule deer that have coexisted with other plant and animal species on the island for more than 75 years.