Tuesday, November 17, 2015

WWP Uses Rancher’s Death to Make Political Hay

by Frank Priestley

A fringe environmental group recently displayed its total lack of class, morals, ethics and intelligence by attempting to make political gain from the tragic death of Adams County rancher Jack Yantis.

The succession of events that led to Yantis’ death on Nov. 1, will have a profound effect on the lives of hundreds of people for years to come. Yantis’ wife, Donna, suffered a heart attack after learning her husband was dead. For the two motorists injured after a collision on State Highway 95 with a 2,000 pound range bull owned by Yantis, family members who witnessed the shooting, the two Adams County deputies who shot Yantis multiple times and many Adams County residents, it was a tragedy that will haunt them for the rest of their lives.

In spite of that, the next day, the Western Watersheds Project’s Idaho Director Ken Cole published an editorial blaming the incident on the open range law and calling on the state of Idaho to abolish the law. This attempt to make political gain from a tragic accident is despicable, sickening and crass.

...Western Watersheds Project’s stated goal is to remove all livestock from public land. Over the last several years they’ve argued in court against delisting wolves, grizzly bears and various other wildlife and plant species, in order to meet their stated goal. They don’t care about saving wildlife but they’re willing to make any number of false claims if they think it will help their cause.

Now they’ve shown us they’re not above using human death, grief and trauma as tools to reach their ends.

Frank Priestley is President of the Idaho Farm Bureau 

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