Despite a protest from an international human rights panel, the United States Bureau of Land Management was moving ahead last Friday with an auction of over 200 cattle seized from two elderly Western Shoshone sisters. Mary and Carrie Dann of Crescent Valley were accused of trespassing on federal land without a grazing permit for the past thirty years and causing substantial harm by overgrazing. This is not the first time the Bureau has seized animals owned by the Danns. In 1993, a paramilitary-style raid captured 269 horses, including 229 wild animals and 40 horses belonging to the Dann family.
The sisters, who have owned cattle for years, claim aboriginal title to the land in Nevada and that it is the government, not them, who are violating inalienable rights. “The BLM has stolen Western Shoshone cattle,” said Carrie Dann. They cite a treaty that secured millions of acres of land for the Western Shoshone but which fell into the ownership of the government instead.
The 1863 Treaty of Ruby Valley between the Western Shoshone and the United States took 23.6 million acres of land from the tribe. When the treaty was formed, the U.S. was engaged in a civil war, and sought to avoid a fight with the Shoshone Nation to obtain the gold that the Union needed to finance their cause. A trust fund of $138 million was to be distributed by the Senate of Indian Affairs Committee in return for the appropriated land, though the Danns are among the Western Shoshone members who refuse to accept the government’s payoff. Tribal leaders argue that the treaty granted the United States limited access and did not cede the land to the federal government. The U.S. Supreme Court disagreed, ruling in U.S. v. Dann, 470 U.S. 39 (1985), that litigation of the Western Shoshone title is blocked because the Claims Commission has already certified an award. This ruling was made despite protests by the Western Shoshone and their refusal to claim the award. No funds have been transferred to or expended for the benefit of the Western Shoshone. The Danns' claim has been rebuffed repeatedly, even up to the U.S. Supreme Court.
The Organization of American States' Inter-American Commission on Human Rights urged the BLM late Thursday to cancel the sale of the cattle, to no avail. A spokesperson for the BLM stated that since the OAS has no jurisdiction concerning the situation, the auction will occur as planned. Faxed and hand-delivered bids were being accepted through 9 a.m., and the BLM accepted three bids totaling $59,262. The Danns own around 800 horses, which are also in danger of being seized.
