Armed Group Occupies Oregon Federal Wildlife Refuge

BURNS, OR - A group of armed protesters has occupied the headquarters of a federal wildlife refuge in Oregon claiming the unfair prosecution of two local ranchers.

Protesters occupied part of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge after 300 marchers walked through Burns, Ore. on Saturday to protest the prosecution of Dwight Hammond Jr. and Steven Hammond, two local ranchers, who prosecutors say set a fire in 2001 that burned 130 acres to cover up poaching. The Hammonds, who are to report to prison on Monday, claim they set the fire to reduce the growth of invasive plant species and protect their property from wildfires, CNN reports.

According to The Oregonian, among the occupiers is Ammon Bundy, the son of a Nevada rancher. The paper reports the occupation is being led by “hard-core militia” who have adopted the Hammond cause as their own.

Speaking with media outlets, Ammon Bundy and his brother Ryan Bundy said they were not looking to hurt anyone but are not ruling out violence if authorities try to remove them from the building. At the time of the occupation, the building was closed and unoccupied. A U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service representative confirmed to CNN that no federal employees were inside the building at the time of the occupation.

The group is demanding that the Hammonds be released and the government relinquish control of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. CNN reports Bundy did not explicitly call for the release of the Hammonds but said the case highlighted an abuse of power and the Hammonds were prosecuted as “terrorists” when they refused to sell their ranches. It is unclear how many members of the group are inside the occupied building.

W. Alan Schroeder, attorney for the Hammonds wrote to Harney County Sheriff David Ward saying no one in the group including Ammon Bundy speaks for the Hammond family. The Harney County Sheriff’s office issued a statement on Sunday saying multiple agencies are currently working on a solution, advising residents to stay away from the area.

The FBI is now the lead investigative agency for the situation at the refuge, working with various local authorities to bring a “peaceful resolution,” the agency announced on Monday. Citing safety considerations, the FBI said they would not be releasing specifics on the law enforcement response.

“We are out here today because the people have been abused long enough,” Ammon Bundy said In a video posted on Facebook. “Their land and their resources have been taken from them to the point where its literally putting them in poverty.”

He goes on to call the Hammonds a symptom of a very huge egregious problem that is happening across the United States. Bundy says the group is here for the people of Harney County, adding “it might take a bit for people to realize that.”

In interviews with the press, Bundy insists that the protest is peaceful and those occupying the building are not terrorists.

Bundy met with 10 or so local residents of Burns on Friday in an effort to recruit them for his cause of turning federal land over to locals. The Oregonian reports that the residents declined.

In an opinion piece written by Acting U.S. Attorney Billy J. Williams in the Burns Times Herald, he defends the decision of the federal prosecutors in the Hammonds case, saying a teenage relative of the Hammonds testified that Steve Hammond told him to start a fire to destroy evidence of an illegal deer slaughter.

The Bundys have vowed to occupy the building for as long as it takes. Social media has dubbed the group #YallQaeda.