BLM Auctions Shoshone Sisters’
Cattle In The Face Of Protests

RENO, Nev. —(AP)— Despite protests and objections by an international human rights panel, the federal government has auctioned off a herd of cattle formerly owned by two Western Shoshone sisters who the government claims owe nearly $3 million in grazing fees.

The Bureau of Land Management on Friday sold the 232 cattle for $59,262 to three unnamed out of state buyers who submitted faxed bids.

About 50 tribal members, states' rights activists and other protesters picketed outside the state BLM office in Reno, waving signs that read ``Don't Buy Stolen Cattle'' and ``BLM Cattle Rustlers.''

The cattle were confiscated last month from longtime tribal activists Carrie and Mary Dann of Crescent Valley, who insist the land belongs to the Western Shoshones, not the government.

The Organization of American States' Inter-American Commission on Human Rights had urged the government to cancel the sale until allegations of injustice could be reviewed.

BLM spokeswoman JoLynn Worley said the cattle were impounded as a last resort after the government tried unsuccessfully for years to negotiate a settlement with the Dann sisters.

Tribal lawyers said the government has an obligation to act consistent with the wishes of the 33 year-old human rights panel, which found in a preliminary ruling that the Danns' rights were being violated.

``Here we have the most respected human rights panel in the Americas telling the United States to halt this action but they ignore them,'' said Julie Fishel, a lawyer for the Western Shoshone Defense Project.

``Legally and morally, the United States is wrong here. This is a denial of the human rights of the Western Shoshone people,'' she said.

It was the third time in 15 months that the BLM has confiscated and auctioned cattle in Nevada for trespassing on federal land without a grazing permit. Agency range specialists claim the Danns' cattle are damaging federal land that has been legally allotted to neighboring ranchers.

Tribal members maintain the Ruby Valley Treaty of 1863 gives them title to the land, including the right to graze livestock on the land free from U.S. constraints.

``That treaty was an agreement between two nations — the Western Shoshone Nation and the United States of America,'' said Christopher Sewall, another defense project lawyer.

``Our sovereignty shouldn't be cut away piece by piece,'' added Arlen Melendez, chairman of the Reno-Sparks Indian Colony.

Carrie Dann said the BLM had threatened for three decades to impound the cattle.

``We've been under this type of attack since 1973,'' she said. ``They are going to reduce me to an indigent. I will probably be on welfare next year.''

BLM officials said the agency might return to the area south of Carlin to impound hundreds of horses the Danns have grazing on federal lands.

``We have let the Danns know that we want them to remove the nearly 800 head of horses they have out there,'' Worley said.

The BLM received 15 faxed bids with the three winning bids coming from Idaho and California, she said, adding that the $59,262 bid wasn't enough to cover the costs of rounding up and impounding the cattle.