As fire burns, activists sneak into Point Reyes to bring water to parched elk. Should they?

As darkness fell and a thick Pacific fog crept in over the Point Reyes peninsula on Sunday, a small band of animal activists waited for a National Park Service official to leave his check-post along Pierce Point Road. Fleur Dawes, an activist from In Defense of Animals, wants an 8-foot-high fence to be removed so Tule elk can roam freely in Point Reyes National Seashore. “Unlike the privately owned cattle that have unrestrained access to water sources in this area, the elk are protected by federal law that requires the Park Service to ‘conserve’ them for the public and future generations,” Katherine Meyer, director of Harvard Law School’s Animal Law & Policy Clinic, said in a statement for the organization. Heat, drought and fires engulf areas within and around the Point Reyes National Seashore, the iconic tule elk is running out of water. Fleur Dawes, an activist from In Defense of Animals, walks on a dried pond in Tule Elk Reserve in Point Reyes National Seashore.