$1.25 Mil To Save Rodents In Crime-Infested Border State

While the Obama Administration allows Mexican smuggling violence to shut down thousands of acres of public parklands in Arizona, it’s giving the state more than a million bucks to save an “endangered” rodent.

This inconceivable example of government waste was exposed this week by a major news organization that reveals the feds have given Arizona $1.25 million to build bridges for endangered squirrels to cross over a mountain road. The new structures will keep the squirrels from becoming road kill and will therefore allow officials to monitor their health.

The project is essential because the Mount Graham red squirrels are on the verge of extinction and cars kill approximately five a year near the mountainous area where around 250 of them live. The taxpayer dollars will be used to build rope bridges over the road that runs through the squirrels’ habitat. More than 40 canopy tunnel crossings will be erected at a cost of $400,000 each.

Incredibly, the federal government refuses to allocate the resources necessary to battle the Mexican smuggling violence that has overrun the state. The problem is so severe that 3,500 acres of taxpayer-funded parklands in Arizona have been shut to U.S. citizens out of safety concerns created by Mexican drug and human smugglers. The section of land is part of the Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge and extends north from the international border for about three quarters of a mile.

There are no plans to reopen the southernmost portion of the 118,000-acre refuge, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which claims that there has never the less been a “significant” decline in violent activity in the area thanks to an increase in Border Patrol presence. A local county sheriff, who saw one of his deputies get shot in the area recently, maintains that the area is “literally out of control.”

Other Arizona federal parks have also been deeply affected by the Mexican violence, forcing the U.S. Bureau of Land Management to post strongly-worded signs at various locations warning visitors of the risks. Among them is the Sonoran Desert National Monument, the most biologically diverse of the North American deserts with three congressionally designated wilderness areas and significant archeological and historic sites. A million dollars would certainly come in handy to help save the precious parklands long “endangered” by illegal immigrants.