www.sierraclub.org/borderlands
TUCSON, AZ – Arizona Game and Fish is planning to relocate
pronghorn from central Arizona to replenish herds in southeastern Arizona where
the number of animals has been decimated by recently-constructed walls along
the U.S.-Mexico border.
Arizona Public Media and the Arizona
Daily Star report that these drastic measures are intended to avoid a total
die-off of pronghorn herds in the vicinity of Sonoita and the San Rafael
Valley. The Sonoita herd has only about
18 animals remaining, and the 7 animals of the San Rafael herd rely on only one
buck who is too old to breed.
These two herds are victims of habitat fragmentation caused
by environmentally reckless border policies.
Hundreds of miles of border barriers and roads were hastily built in
Arizona from 2006 to 2009, many of them without regard for vital environmental
safeguards and federal protections such as the Endangered Species Act and
National Environmental Policy Act. These
laws, and dozens more, were waived along most of Arizona’s border with Mexico
by the Bush Administration.
"Habitat
fragmentation, whether caused by urban sprawl, highways, or, in this case,
border walls, cuts species off from the terrain they need to find food, water
and mates,” says Dan Millis of Sierra Club Borderlands in Tucson. “People climb
the wall all the time. Instead of serving its intended purpose – to deter
people, the wall is stopping wildlife and endangering their survival, as is the
case with these pronghorn.”
“It is
going to cost a lot of money to capture and relocate pronghorn from central
Arizona and move them in with the struggling herds,” continues Millis. “The
federal government wasted billions on useless border walls to the detriment of
the border environment, and now Arizonans are stuck with the costs of cleaning
up the mess.”
The Sierra Club is America's old est,
largest and most influential
grassroots environmental or ganization.
More information on borderlands protection can be found at www.sierraclub.org/borderlands
