what....

[DayDreamer]

let me start by saying i have no clue where to post this... its desert tortoise related but not fully so ill put it here.



so not sure if any of you have been following the rancher up in Nevada getting his water lines cut and cattle taken due to this guy grazing his cattle on public land (that he and his family have been using 'forever')
anyways i guess the bureau of land management got fed up with it due to the desert tortoises possibly being stepped on by the cattle etc. (honestly i dont know the full story im not following it as much as my husband) or the desert tortoise reserve being closed last year.

hubby just sent me these two links
http://www.newsmax.com/TheWire/desert-tortoise-reserve-euthanized/2013/08/26/id/522264/

and

http://weaselzippers.us/182452-feds...-which-they-themselves-have-been-euthanizing/


im struggling to understand this... why one second are they killing them due to not having enough funds (which is a HORRIBLE reason... find the damn funds!) and then going and doing this to a farmer who has been there for generations and using that public land without problems....

i didnt even know it was legal to euthanize perfectly healthy endangered animals...

 

[wellington]

It's just plain sick any way you look at it.

 

[christinaland128]

That's terrible.

 

[TylerStewart]

In all reality, the desert tortoises are only being "used" to get this guy off the land.... The cows aren't a problem with the tortoises, the cows have been grazing in this area since Nevada became a state. The BLM has been trying to get the land off of this guy (his own land) for a long long time, and since he has been resisting their "new" laws (trying to make him pay a fee for use of the public grazing land), they want to go make an example out of him. I have a feeling it's going to turn very ugly, it isn't far from here, so it's been in the news a lot lately. His defense is that it isn't government land, it's Nevada land. Our governor seems to be taking his side in a few interviews I've seen. It'll be interesting how it plays out. We will be driving through there on Sunday in a quick run to Utah and back.

There's nothing credible about the BLM, and there's usually nothing credible about the federal government.... They used to spend a million dollars a year maintaining 1,400 desert tortoises in ghetto fiberglass framed enclosures out in the desert with a few (probably) unpaid interns working it. They shut that down due to budget problems, and now they are spending 3 million dollars to collect cattle to punish a guy that owes (they say) 1 million (supposedly the cows are getting euthanized also, but nobody has confirmed that yet). Not to be political, but when the govt tells you their side of the story, it's almost always wrong, misleading, etc.

 

[mike taylor]

I don't see why they would kill the cows or the tortoises . Cows can go to market and be sold as food . As for the tortoises they shouldn't kill them they need to find them homes . I would personally take two or three . I would make room for them . Its a shame we as humans think o it just a animal smash it . This pisses me off . As for the farmer he's just doing what his family has been doing for years . This is how he feeds his family . I say take the pens and computers these a. Holes are using to feed their families and smash them . See how they fill . They just need to leave that country boy alone .

 

[DayDreamer]

gotta agree with u there tyler, after reading a bit more into it last night and talking to my husband about it (who is following the story daily) they def. are using the torts as a excuse.
take a good look when u drive by its going crazy over there, even threats from the gov. that they will shoot down anyone who goes on the land... they threw a lady to the ground a few days back for (if i remember correctly) taking pictures.
I could totally understand them keeping the guy off the land for the tortoises had they not killed a thousand of them last year for no good reason. but wow. anyways i thought id share with you guys. wish i was down there to atleast support the guy