Last month, President George W. Bush signed the “2007 Defense Authorization Act,” which included an NRA-supported provision saving hundreds of elk and mule deer on Santa Rosa Island from the court-ordered extermination that was to begin in 2008 and be completed by 2011.
However, this week an amendment by Senators Barbara Boxer (D-Ca.), and Dianne Feinstein (D-Ca.), passed the Senate, and, if accepted by the House, will result in the overturning of current law and assure the extermination hundreds of healthy elk and mule deer on the island, off the coast of California. This action is not about public access or whether these animals should be hunted and by whom.
Siding with environmental extremists, Senators Boxer and Feinstein claim that the Kaibab deer and Roosevelt elk on Santa Rosa Island are destroying natural vegetation and thus, should be indiscriminately exterminated. The provision calls for the deer and elk to be killed en-masse. NRA-ILA opposes the indiscriminate extermination of these animals.
NRA-ILA Executive Director Chris W. Cox stated, “In a blatant attempt to slaughter these animals – for absolutely no good purpose – Senators Boxer and Feinstein claim to ‘correct a terrible mistake.’ The only irreversible mistake in this situation is if these elitist politicians are allowed to kill healthy and robust animals for political purposes.”
Santa Rosa Roosevelt elk and Kaibab mule deer are unique and invaluable, as they are free from Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) and other ailments that threaten the species on the mainland. Forty miles of Pacific Ocean offer them a sanctuary from disease. The healthy and thriving herds can be used as breeding stock to repopulate in case of disaster on the mainland.
Cox concluded, “This is not about hunting – this is about political pandering and payback.”
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