When anyone calls out the armed men who took over the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge as the thugs that they were, their supporters are likely to say they weren’t thugs at all. No, no–they were just patriots resisting the latest attempt at gubmint overreach by that Kenyan socialist Mooslim in the White House. Well, on Wednesday, the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service released pictures that should prove the lie to that myth once and for all. They show just part of the millions of dollars in damage that these thugs did to the refuge.
On Wednesday morning, the Fish and Wildlife Service gave the media and the public their first glimpse of the damage the Bundy brothers and their friends did to the refuge’s headquarters and visitor center over 41 days. Andrew Dymburt of KOIN in Portland was on hand for the tour. Here’s what he saw.
When these “patriots” took over the refuge on January 2, they claimed they could do a better job of taking care of it than the federal government could. But after the standoff ended on February 11, the Fish and Wildlife Service discovered that the thugs had turned the refuge into a trash dump. Here are some examples:
Dymburt talked with several Fish and Wildlife biologists who found it hard to keep their composure. Their job is to take care of a delicate ecosystem and preserve it for wildlife, and these thugs’ actions set those efforts back. The (Portland) Oregonian revealed one example of the damage these bottom-feeders did. The Fish and Wildlife Service has long-standing plans to remove invasive Asian carp from Malheur Lake; they eat plants and insects that would otherwise go to birds native to the area. They had planned to bring in commercial fishermen to help remove the carp, but the occupation delayed the start of the effort until May. Biologist Linda Beck thinks the occupation set back the removal effort by at least three years, since Asian carp breed almost like rabbits.
Wildlife officials warned reporters to watch their step in certain spots. They found that the thugs “defecated everywhere” after several pipes burst. Federal prosecutors believe two of the “patriots,” Jake Ryan and Sean Anderson, used heavy equipment to dig two trenches in a makeshift camping area. In the process, they caused some $1,000 in damage and desecrated a sacred Burns Paiute archaeological site. On Monday, a judge revealed that Ryan had been indicted for digging the trench, blocking federal employees from accessing the refuge, and weapons-related offenses. He is one of only two thugs who are still at large.
What about the ranchers that the “patriots” claimed to be protecting? To a man, they said that these thugs didn’t speak for them. Gary Marshall, a longtime rancher, said that the Bundys and their friends were either “misinformed or they didn’t care” about the amount of collaboration that has taken place for years between the government and the community. Another rancher, Andy Dunbar, called the occupation “a slap in our face.”
As the media toured the facility, a massive cleanup effort was very much underway–one that will go on through early summer. So far, federal officials estimate that the cleanup effort has cost federal taxpayers at least $6 million–a total that will almost certainly get much larger when all is said and done. For example, the thugs stole numerous computers–which means the employees now have to worry about identity theft.
Harney County has already planned to bill thug-in-chief Ammon Bundy $70,000 a day for the occupation. After seeing these pictures, I hope the federal government sticks the Bundys and their buddies with the bill for cleaning up their mess as well. There’s no such thing as too harsh for thugs who ground an entire county to a halt.
