Tribal Coalition's Prayer for the Great Bear

Sept 27, 2014: The Goal Tribal Coalition, including 26 Native American nations, will hold a prayer protest against the delisting of grizzly bears off the endangered list. Shoulderblade, a Cheyenne Sun Dance Priest for over two decades, will conduct the GOAL ceremony for the imperiled Yellowstone grizzly bear in Yellowstone Lake’s Sedge Bay at 9 a.m. on Saturday morning.

“Let’s start from this point of reference: Yellowstone was a homeland for thousands of years before it was a park. The grizzly bear, the Ancient One, was the first two-legged to walk there. If the US Fish & Wildlife Service (FWS) and the states of Wyoming, Montana and Idaho get their collective way and the Yellowstone grizzly is shorn of Endangered Species Act protections, it may be taking its last steps.” emphasized Bear Stands Last.

“Teddy Roosevelt enthusiastically annexed Indian lands for National Parks because he saw the National Parks as nurseries for ‘big game’ that would benefit his ‘bully’ trophy hunters in the Boone and Crockett Club. If Servheen, Mead and Talbott get their way, TR’s ideal will be realized at last,” he cautioned, referring to the FWS’s so-called “grizzly bear czar” alongside Wyoming’s governor and his appointee who heads up the state’s game and fish agency.

Read more on the GOAL Tribal website, www.goaltribal.org

Related Article: Should Grizzly Bears be Delisted?