A
Year in Office, and Zinke has Targeted Eagles, Elephants and Other Species
By
Sarah Okeson
Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke has taken aim at iconic animals like the
bald eagle and the elephant with his policies and pressured subordinates at Glacier
National Park in Montana to
reopen the park’s lakes to motorized boats after invasive zebra mussels were
found in the state.
Zinke, who grew up in Whitefish, Mont., likes to talk about how hunters and
people who fish help conservation.
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| Interior Secretary Zinke prefers his wildlife stuffed |
On Zinke’s first day in
office, he signed an order overturning a ban on using lead ammunition and fishing
sinkers on federal wildlife refuges that was meant to help prevent animals from
being poisoned by lead left on the ground or in the water.
Predators like the
bald eagle, our national symbol, are susceptible to lead poisoning from eating animals remains left behind
by hunters.
Lead poisoning in condors, the largest flying land birds in the Western Hemisphere, led to lead ammunition being banned in some California counties and voluntary no-lead programs in parts of Arizona and Utah.
But environmentalists
were unsuccessful in getting an overall lead ban for other animals until Dan Ashe, the outgoing Fish and Wildlife Service
director, implemented one.
“Overturning the lead
ammunition ban may win political points with a few special interests, but it
could cost the lives of millions of birds and the health of
families that rely on
game to feed their families,” said Athan Manuel of
the Sierra Club.
Zinke put a grizzly bear and a stuffed bobcat in his office. One
of Zinke’s backers in getting the job was Donald Trump Jr., an avid hunter
who was photographed in 2012 holding the bloody tail of a dead elephant.
In November, the Fish
and Wildlife Service lifted a 2014 ban on importing the body parts of dead elephants
from Zimbabwe and Zambia. Trump put the imports on hold after widespread
outrage, but recently the FWS said it would grant permits on a case-by-case basis.
“It would seem that
Zinke is letting Safari Club set Interior’s agenda,” said Tanya
Sanerib of the Center
for Biological Diversity.
In Montana, the
National Park Service closed all park waters to boats in November 2016 after
the larvae of zebra mussels were found in two state reservoirs, the first time the invasive mussels had
been found in Montana.
Water from the park
drains into three continental scale watersheds, the Columbia, Missouri and
South Saskatchewan basins.
But last summer park
officials, under pressure from Zinke, allowed motorized watercraft in the
park’s pristine lakes.
Zinke is carrying
water for hunting and fishing interests even when it threatens to befoul his
home state.
ACTION BOX/What You Can Do About It
Contact Secretary Ryan Zinke and tell him that you want our
nation’s Interior Department to protect animals, not endanger them. Call him at
202-208-3100, reach out to him on Facebook, Twitter or send an email.
Write: Department of the Interior / 1849 C St., NW / Washington,
D.C. 20240
The Center for Biological
Diversity can be reached at 520-623-9797 or at center@biologicaldiversity.org.