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Wild Horse Information 3 |
This is a page dedicated to the wild horses that are left around the United States. There will be information on call in days, updated information on situations that come through, and any other wild horse related information. |
Nevada's Wild Horses and Burros One of the largest wild horse roundups in Nevada history is over. The Bureau of Land Management says it gathered more than 2,000 mustangs from the sprawling Calico Range in Northern Nevada, but that's far fewer than the agency expected to capture. Critics of the BLM say the Calico roundup is a perfect illustration of what's wrong with the BLM wild horse program, which uses roundups as its principal management tool. BLM often says it is "mandated by law" to gather up wild horses from public land. The fact is, the law doesn't say that. It allows BLM to use roundups as one of the management tools at its disposal, but it doesn't order the agency to gather up mustangs. Critics say BLM always uses roundups as its first choice. The fact that there are now more wild horses in captivity than on tens of millions of public acres proves something is wrong with the program. The Black Rock Desert and surrounding range is stark and beautiful, but not what you would call a garden spot. But it is just fine for wild horses and is one of the last remaining mustang strongholds in the nation -- at least it was. The BLM determined that 3,000 horses spread across more than half a million acres were simply too many, so they set out in December to gather them up. The imagery of the roundup is unmistakably moving. On one January day, BLM contractors herded yet another band of mustangs across miles of rocky terrain, and then into a temporary corral, but the cowboys missed the stallion of the band. Observers watched as he inched closer and closer to his mares, oblivious to the possibility of capture, and repeatedly called out to them, as if to ask, "What the heck was happening?" It's one of the questions the public has been asking about BLM's aggressive schedule of roundups, including the Calico roundup conducted in weather so harsh it repeatedly shut down the operation several times. As always, BLM says it was done for the good of the horses. "The reason we did go forward was based on the fact that if we didn't gather this winter, we would really have an emergency situation this summer," said BLM District Manager Gene Seidlitz. According to Seidlitz, BLM is mandated by law to gather excess horses, and he says the bureau did extensive monitoring to confirm the numbers. But the fact is, the numbers were wrong and BLM knows it. Critics told BLM before the roundup there weren't nearly as many horses in Calico as predicted. BLM said it planned to gather up to 2,700 mustangs, but it couldn't find that many. They stopped about 700 horses fewer than their its target. How could they be that far off? "There's a lot of migration of wild horses going on that we didn't realize until recently," said Seidlitz. Wild horses migrating across invisible boundary lines? Who knew? Critics like Cindy MacDonald say the problem is inherent because BLM doesn't do much observation work. Rather, it depends on estimates to create what's called AML -- Appropriate Management Level -- desired targets that were written up 10 or more years earlier. "They are supposed to being doing these population levels based on range land data. Instead they use population charts and just check off little boxes, no proof required. Then they turn around and authorize tons of livestock units," she said. BLM says its primary job is to protect the land and that horses are incredibly destructive. In roundup after roundup, the agency claims horses are starving and that the range is imperiled, but the agency sometimes has trouble keeping its story straight, especially when it comes to cattle. In January 2008, for instance, BLM authorized a 300-percent increase in the number of cattle that could graze in the very same Calico area. BLM experts said at the time that the impact from wild horses in the area as minimal, which meant the number of authorized cattle could increase. Two months after the jump in cattle was approved, BLM produced a new survey claiming the wild horse population was had jumped from 500 to more than 3,000 in just four years -- an increase critics say is preposterous. Nonetheless, more cattle were authorized and the horses had to go. Attorney Valerie Stanley accomplished what no one else has done. She stopped a BLM roundup by taking them to federal court in Colorado. Stanley argued that BLM tends to make stuff up as it goes along. The judge agreed. "BLM for so long has just had this position of whatever they say goes," she said. BLM might get used to seeing Valerie Stanley. She has agreed to devote her practice to stopping planned roundups, and there are a lot of them in the works. Even though the Calico roundup is over, its effects are still being felt in the form of horses that are dying after being captured. Friday at 5, a look at the consequences of this equine harvest
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Fw: Horseback Magazine | BLM Admits "Gather" Likely Cause Of Foal Lo Posted by: "Marge" redmm97@cox.net redmm97 Tue Feb 9, 2010 5:17 am (PST)
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----- Original Message ----- From: Horseback Magazine Sent: Sunday, February 07, 2010 3:37 PM Subject: Eagle Gather Canceled 2-7-1- BULLETIN The federal Bureau of Land Management has canceled a proposed Nevada roundup of wild horses in the wake of nationwide anti-cruelty protests. For details go to www.horsebackmagazine.com. The horses were to be captured from the Eagle Herd Management Area. Horseback Magazine has also learned that a video is likely to be posted later Sunday on You Tube of the chase of a terrified foal by a low flying helicopter during another roundup completed late last week. The foal couldn't keep up with its mother as the low flying chopper relentlessly pursued it. Two foals lost their hooves and were euthanized after such a stampede in the Calico Mountains. The video also shows horses suffering in a BLM holding pen, allegedly including one of the foals who lost its hooves after being captured at Calico.
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WoW!! Check out the top choices for IDEAS FOR CHANGE..
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Red Alert!!! The 'Alliance of Wild Horse Advocates' demands the Truth, The whole Truth, and Nothing but the Truth! Therefore, we are holding a 'TRUTH RALLY' on Saturday, February 20, 2010 12:00 – 3:00 pm Carson City, Nevada (State Capitol) in front of the Legislative Building As of right now, the Calico Roundup has caused the death of 64 horse and counting; this number includes spontaeous abortion of foals Wild Horse advocates across this Nation are seeing RED. We are past asking for intervention. We demand a full investigation into the Bureau of Land Management's Wild Horse and Burro Program. We will not rest until we get it. It's time to show strength in numbers. Our goal is to have 100+ advocates participate if we are to get our cry for help heard and seen on national news stations. SAVE THE DATE! The larger we are, the louder our voice. Ask friends, relatives and neighbors to join us who feel as strongly as we do, that THESE ROUNDUPS HAVE GOT TO STOP NOW! More details coming soon. Stay tuned, stay active and keep on calling Washington, D.C. Remember, one call can, and does, make a difference. For information call: Bonnie Matton, Wild Horse Preservation League – Dayton, NV. 775-220-6806 Mattonco@prodigy.net (Mattonco @ prodigy.net) Shirley Allen, LRTC Lucky Horse Rescue – Stagecoach, NV. 775-246-7636 Shirley@WHMentors.org (Shirley @ WHMentors.org) Carrol Abel, Hidden Valley Wild Horse Protection Fund – Reno, NV. 775-624-7807 HiddenValleyHorse@yahoo.com (HiddenValleyHorse @ yahoo.com)
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From the desk of Deanne Stillman: to hear of these latest fatalities hurts my heart, and i know that you are all hurting as well. over the past few weeks, i've received numerous emails asking me to address the situation in writing. as some of you know, i've done just that, in my book and various articles and blogs over the years, and i continue to do so in my talks around the country. i've assembled a list of some of my key pieces about america's ongoing war against the wild horse and burro, and here's the link (keep scrolling and click on titles, which at first may look like they are not highlighted). i encourage you to contact your representatives and media folk, and let them know what's going on. feel free to quote from these pieces if you'd like. alas, the names and places may have changed, but the siege continues: as i've often said, we are a cowboy nation, and we are destroying the horse we rode in on. it's important to try to head off this disaster at the pass, and also not to forget that other such scenarios have been halted before they started (for instance, the recent, impending round-up of the douglas herd in colorado, thanks to the legal battle waged by valerie stanley). thanks to everyone for speaking up for the wild ones. all best- deanne stillman http://www.aowha.org/war/ http://deannestillman.com/work.shtml
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Foal Which Would Lose Hooves Laying Down Last Week Photo by Laura Leigh By Steven Long HOUSTON, (Horseback) – The federal Bureau of Land Management confirmed today that a second foal has died at their hands after losing its hooves possibly from being driven down a Nevada mountainside by a roaring helicopter. “Apparently there has been one more foal that was euthanized because of hoof Sloughs,” BLM spokeswoman JoLynn Worley of the agency’s Winnemucca office told Horseback Online. The agency classifies the 1669 horses it has rounded up at the current Calico Mountain gather as “excess.” Horseback has asked for the report of the BLM veterinarian who treated the foal. The foal died Saturday after two weeks of treatment. Worley has said she will post the report on the website when it becomes available. Activist and videographer Laura Leigh noticed the foal laying down last week during a visit to the BLM hospital site. She had found the animal a caregiver outside of BLM control, however, it was too late. According to a website set up for the current Calico roundup citing day to day progress on the capture of wild horses, the bureau acknowledges 27 deaths since the “gather” began on December 28th. The BLM also admits that 20 to 30 mares have miscarried since late December. Helicopter induced roundups have consistently resulted in wild horse deaths according to BLM statistics released late last year to Horseback Magazine. In 2008, 45 percent of the roundups resulted in at least one fatality, and on one in Nevada, 27 horses died. The total number of deaths through injury or for other reasons totaled 126 animals that year. The 2009 percentage of dead horses on BLM roundups is slightly worse at 46 percent resulting in at least one horse death. In July, a Wyoming gather proved fatal to 11 horses Over the two years prior to the 2010 roundup season a total of 205 horses died at the agency’s hands In BLM roundups, horses are often driven down miles of rocky slopes by a roaring helicopter. Such was the case in Wyoming this year when 11 horses died at Coconut Creek when 349 horses were caught.
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February 2, 2010
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Fort Collins Protest-Feb 5 First Night in Old Town Janet C. Ft. Collins, Co.
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Subject: STRATEGY FOR WK OF JANUARY 24 To identify your federal legislators and find contact info, try: |
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Posted by: "Marge" redmm97@cox.net redmm97 Tue Jan 26, 2010 4:24 pm (PST)
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FW: Visit change.org to help the wild horses Posted by: "rjyager" rjyager@yahoo.com rjyager Tue Jan 26, 2010 1:45 pm (PST)
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Posted by: "Marge" redmm97@cox.net redmm97 Tue Jan 26, 2010 7:10 am (PST)
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Wildhorse Protest in Arizona: Come one, come all! Arizona Wild Horse Advocates along with the Cloud Foundation are having a protest in Phoenix: BLM Office Saturday,January 30th from 11 am to 1 pm More information here: http://arizona1- and here: http://thecloudfoundation.org/index.php/news-events-a-media/events and here: (Bridle and Bit) http://www.bridleandbit.com/artman/publish/article_26742.shtml Contact her at arizona.aahsus@gmail.com
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Fw: Missouri bill introduced and great rebuttal to Salazar Editorial Posted by: "Marge" redmm97@cox.net redmm97 Mon Jan 25, 2010 4:39 am (PST)
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From: The Cloud Foundation
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Fw: Help Stop Eagle Roundup + California & Arizona Protests This Wee Posted by: "Marge" redmm97@cox.net redmm97 Wed Jan 20, 2010 2:57 pm (PST)
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Fw: Mythmaking on both sides of wild horse issue Posted by: "Marge" redmm97@cox.net redmm97 Sun Jan 17, 2010 4:06 am (PST)
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Fw: Carrol Abel: Interior Department reaches out for public support Posted by: "Marge" redmm97@cox.net redmm97 Sat Jan 16, 2010 5:18 am (PST)
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To view this and more information online please visit www.awionline.org/wildhorses January 14, 2010 America’s Wild Horses Need Your Help before it is Too Late Act Now! Dear Humanitarian: For decades, America's wild horses have faced tremendous pressure from the government, ranchers, the livestock industry, state wildlife agencies and others who do not support the protection of these iconic animals on Western rangelands. The situation turned catastrophic last year when the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) announced that it was considering mass slaughter of wild horses in holding facilities as a means of balancing its books. Then a new proposal was offered by Secretary of Interior Ken Salazar to simply create additional holding facilities in the Midwest and East. The BLM seems incapable of protecting and maintaining these national treasures on the public lands that are their home. Yet, the answer is simple: wild horses need less intervention by the BLM, more non-lethal management when necessary, and more freedom to roam their legal and traditional ranges. Until the BLM’s Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros program is subject to a comprehensive review and restructuring, AWI recommends the following: Congress needs to quickly pass the Restore our American Mustang Act (S. 1579). The bill easily passed the House of Representatives, but is awaiting action in the Senate. Visit AWI'S Compassion Index to send an email in support of this bill. The Obama Administration must implement a moratorium on wild horse and burro roundups until a comprehensive review of all aspects of the wild horse and burro management program is completed. This would include the creation of a credible and scientifically rigorous census methodology and the development and implementation of a standardized method, considering biological, ecological, behavioral, and genetics factors, to determine how many wild horses western rangelands can support. The Obama Administration must also restore wild horses and burros confined in holding facilities to the over 19 million acres of habitat from which they have been illegally removed since 1971. By returning horses to the wild, the federal government will save millions of dollars a year. WHAT YOU CAN DO: Send an email to President Obama and Interior Secretary Ken Salazar calling for a moratorium on all roundups until the wild horse program has been evaluated from top to bottom. Next, send an email to your U.S. Senators urging them to cosponsor the Restore our American Mustang Act (S. 1579) to help clean up the BLM’s wild horse program. Sign up for eAlerts at AWI to stay informed on what is taking place. Please be sure to send this eAlert to friends, family, coworkers and anyone else you can think of today. Feel free to cross post this to other sites including Facebook and Twitter. Thanks, Chris CHRIS HEYDE Deputy Director Government and Legal Affairs ANIMAL WELFARE INSTITUTE 900 Pennsylvania Ave., SE Washington, DC 20003 T: (202) 446-2140 ~ F: (202) 446-2131 www.awionline.org ~ www.compassionindex.org The Animal Welfare Institute has been working to alleviate the suffering inflicted on animals by humans since 1951. Please join us in our work to protect animals – visit our website to find out more and to sign up for AWI eAlerts: www.awionline.org. Please consider the animals and their habitat before printing.
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Arizona Horse Expo, New York City Protest & More Posted by: "Marge" redmm97@cox.net redmm97 Wed Jan 13, 2010 5:11 am (PST)
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The Big Story BLM Giving Free Wild Horse Removal To Ranchers Who Request It By Steven Long BLM Continues Roundups, 3 Dead So Far BLM's Bob Abbey - BLM Photo “If they stray on to private land, the landowner has the right to request BLM to come and remove the animals,” said spokeswoman JoLynn Worley of the agency’s Nevada office in response to a query by Horseback Magazine. “The BLM does not charge the landowner to remove wild horses or burros from their private property,” Worley acknowledged. Horseback Magazine has repeatedly sought an interview with director Bob Abbey to discuss such policies, rules and actions that have sparked growing protests from coast to coast as well as a petition drive that has reached the White House. Many ranchers in the West consider wild horses a nuisance. They see the animals, living off the land as they have for centuries, as competition for scarce grazing land. The taxpayer owned property is leased at the rock bottom rate of $1.35 per animal unit per month. Thousands of acres of private land abut the public land BLM administers, The agency plans to remove vast numbers of wild horses. Inevitably, those horses will stray onto the private property - and inevitably the BLM will be asked to remove the horses at no charge to the landowner. More than a million head of cattle graze on BLM land, compared to about 30,000 or fewer wild horses. "The BLM's business acumen is mind boggling,” said John Holland, a Virginia technology consultant and founder of the Chicago based Equine Welfare Alliance. “They pay millions of dollars to sweep healthy horses off private and public land so they can pay more millions to warehouse them and then rent the cleared land to cattle raisers for a loss of 80 cents on the dollar in administrative costs.” Tens of thousands of horses are held in giant pens across the West in pastures owned by private interests while the agency administers 260 million acres, most of it vacant. Holland charges this government “privatization” or the warehousing of horses that once roamed and grazed their natural habitat at no cost to the taxpayer is welfare for the ranchers who receive lucrative government contracts. "Ironically, the BLM is doing this with "stimulus" funds,” Holland continued. “Apparently they are under the assumption they are supposed to be stimulating the national debt." Landowner, Greg Foster, who owns property in the Calico Mountains of Northern Nevada is cooperating with BLM on its current "gather" there. The agency claims the wild horses it is stampeding with a low flying helicopter are in mountainous terrain. Spokesmen say that the bureau is only setting up a holding pen and storing equipment on Foster’s property. Since press and public have been barred from witnessing the roundup except during tightly controlled “media days,” there is no way to independently determine if the BLM is herding wild horses found on the landowner’s property. Horseback Magazine has learned that during a recent flyover of the Calico "gather" area where thousands of wild horses are alleged by the BLM to live, only nine were counted. Activists claim the BLM is also using birth control drugs to make the remaining herds genetically bankrupt and unable to propogate. They claim there will be no wild horses roaming free unless the BLM roundups and activities are stopped. Sen. Mary Landrieu (D) La., has called for a revamp of the agency from top to bottom. Worley, the BLM spokeswoman, claims the government has taken no horses on Foster’s land, yet there have been no witnesses allowed to watch and confirm the veracity of the agency’s claims. The agency claims the horses are driven from the Nevada highlands into the pen set up on Foster’s property. The BLM has refused to release any more information about the landowner other than his name.
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Fw: EWA Alert | January 16 - Media in Gerlach, NV Posted by: "Marge" redmm97@cox.net redmm97 Sun Jan 10, 2010 3:49 pm (PST)
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| Event Location: Red Rock Canyon, Nevada Event Date and Time: January 10, 2010 from 12:00 Noon to 3:00 PM Event Venue: At the roadside near the Red Rock Canyon scenic overlook. Venue Directions: To reach the spectacular overlook, from the 215 West beltway and Charleston Ave, take Charleston west toward the mountains, but continue several miles beyond the entrance to the scenic overlook on the west (right) side of the highway. Event Description: Regional Protest of the Calico Wild Horse Roundup Event Organizers: Cloud Foundation [not verified]
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| Event Location: Manhattan, NYC Event Date and Time: January 17, 2010 from 1:00 to to 3:00 PM Event Venue: Columbus Circle, near Central Park Venue Directions: Coming soon. Event Description: Regional Protest of the Calico Wild Horse Roundup Event Organizers: Local Advocates and the Cloud Foundation
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| Wild Horses: The Winter of Our Discontent - Protests Around the Country Posted: 08 Jan 2010 08:54 AM PST It's a cold winter this year, made even colder by the unresponsiveness of our government to the plight of our wild horses. Right now, at the coldest time of the year, the BLM is rounding up over 2700 horses in northern Nevada, and horses are being injured and are dying in the harsh winter conditions. Despite a U.S. District Court Judge's recommendation, and despite protests by wild horse advocates around the country and even internationally, the BLM is proceeding with this roundup at a cost of almost 2 million dollars to the American taxpayer. Never before has the public turned out to protest the actions of the Bureau of Land Management, but of course never before has that agencies abuses in managing wild horse been so blatant. When lawsuits fail and thousands upon thousands of letters, phone calls, faxes and emails fall on deaf ears, then all that is left is our freedom of speech, and protests have a way of attracting media attention that all those letters and phone calls and emails have failed to do. Yesterday over thirty wild horse advocates assembled in Denver in spite of the bitterly cold weather. We gathered in front of Senator Mark Udall's office building in downtown Denver. Senator Udall is on the Energy and Natural Resources Committee in the Senate, and this is the committee where the ROAM Act languishes. Senator Udall has not come out in support of the ROAM Act and wild horses - neither has he come out against it. Ginger Kathrens, Makendra Silverman and I met with Kate Zimmerly in Senator Udall's office to discuss our concerns and to ask for Senator Udall's support after the protest. Protests continue as the roundup in Nevada continues, and we continue to call and write and email. This is the time to stand strong - something has got to give. Thank you to all of you who are protesting, writing and calling and emailing - you DO make a difference. For a list of upcoming protests go here: http://www.thecloudfoundation.org/index.php/news-events-a-media/events You are subscribed to email updates from Wild Hoofbeats To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. Email delivery powered by Google Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610
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The Big Story BLM Closes Door to Communication By Steven Long HOUSTON, (Horseback) - The federal Bureau of Land Management has ceased communicating with Horseback Magazine. On December 31, the magazine sent several pointed questions to the bureau and copied the email to its director Bob Abbey. The agency has not responded since, despite follow-up emails to both its Nevada spokesperson, Heather Emmons, and it's chief Washington spokesman, Tom Gorey. The magazine has also repeatedly asked for an interview with BLM Director Bob Abbey only to be rebuffed again and again. Horseback Magazine has formalized its requests through inquiries utalizing the Fredom of Information Act. The BLM is required by law to respond to such a request. Meanwhile, the BLM has increasingly founded itself wrapped in scandal as protests have mounted from coast to coast over its "gaqther" of a proposed 2,500 wild horses from their native habitat. 'The agency plans to put some of the horses up for adoption and hold the remainder in massive pens at taxpayer expense.. Horseback Online will continue to cover the ongoing capture of horses in Nevada's rugged Calico Mountains. The following is a report on yesterday's capture from a source who declined to be identified. "There were approx 150 horses on site. "They had separated the 2 mares with their 2 foals and the newly orphaned foal from the rest of the horses.. keeping them at t "he front - two of the foals were lame! The mares and stallions were in two large separate pens on the back side of the lot, next to each other and the yearlings were next to the mares. "I noticed a few lame mares. " We saw no brands on any horses. They were all being fed oat hay. It was roughly 18 degrees today, no wind, but fairly foggy. The same sourse reported to Horseback late Tuesday. "Spent the day on the range attempting to site all the "excess" horses. 12 hours later.. all day on the Calico range, we sited 7 wild horses. 6 in a band and one stallion on his own. " I hope the BLM has even more trouble finding them... like you say.. it's hard to phathom.. hundreds of thousands of acres of land, yet no room for these wild horses and burros? the truth is that there is no excess.. of course we all know that."
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ROUND UP INFO (Boston Friday the 8th ) and Contact Info for email/fa Posted by: "NewEnglandEquineRescues- Tue Jan 5, 2010 11:02 am (PST)
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| Subject: [NewEnglandEquineRe scues] Protest against Wild Horse & Burro Roundups in Boston, MA this Friday, 8 January, 10-3 Event Location: Boston, Massachusetts Event Date & Time: Friday, 8 January, 2010 from 10.00 to 3.00 Event Venue: Massachusetts State House, on the front stairs Event Address: Beacon Street at Park Street Event Description: Regional Protest of the Wild Horse & Burro Roundups Event Organizer: Carol Poole, wild horse & burro advocate It's going to be cold so bundle up warmly! We have been asked NOT to bring signs with sticks; simple posterboard signs will have to do. If you have any questions. please contact Carol Poole at mustangalley@hotmail.com (mustangalley @ hotmail.com) See you in Boston! Jo Bunny let the beauty of what you love be what you do. ~rumi
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FW:LEXINGTON,KY WILDHORSE PROTEST AT RUPP ARENA Posted by: "horsehelping" horsehelping@gmail.com eaglewhowatches Sun Jan 3, 2010 6:31 pm (PST)
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FW: Albany, NY - wild horse demo THIS Thursday Posted by: "rjyager" rjyager@yahoo.com rjyager Mon Jan 4, 2010 1:29 pm (PST) Please forward & cross post, thanks! Does anybody have access to a *bull horn* (hand held amplified talk-thru microphone) to borrow for the day? If so, please email me at equine.friends.ny@gmail.com (equine.friends.ny @ gmail.com) or call 518-245-8010
http://www.partnershelpinganimalscoalition-subscribe@yahoogroups.com (remove spacing)
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Fw: Denver Wild Horse Protest details Posted by: "Marge" redmm97@cox.net redmm97 Mon Jan 4, 2010 11:15 am (PST) - Show quoted text - ----- Original Message ----- cw@livingimagescjw.com (cw @ livingimagescjw.com)
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From John Holland and Valerie James-Patton: This was issued as an OpEd so no time limits on this one The BLM Slaughter Conspiracy By John Holland and Valerie James-Patton December 20, 2009 “Pure propaganda” was Bureau of Land Management (BLM) spokesperson Tom Gorey’s reaction in a recent AP interview when asked about the growing accusations that his agency is in the process of virtually exterminating the very herds of wild horses and burros that it is supposed to protect. However, Gorey’s denial of the BLM’s intentions rings false in the light of recently uncovered documents from the BLM itself and of its own published plans and estimates. It is not possible to interpret these in any way other than a plan to virtually eradicate the wild herds. Two internal-use BLM reports were obtained earlier this year through the Freedom of Information Act; Alternative Management Options Plans from October 2008 and the Team Conference Calls Report from July - September 2008. In these documents, BLM members presented, analyzed and discussed several management plans aimed at reducing the population of the wild horses on the range as well as
those in holding facilities. "Sally had an e-mail from a person in Canada who wants 10,000 horses that he would slaughter the horses and send them to a third world country. Don is going to send the email. Jim said he has a demand for horses going to Denmark, but they are having a problem getting titled horses." Adding further to the plan for sending wild horses to foreign countries, the following recommendations were submitted to BLM from BLM's advisory board members at the June 15th, 2009, Advisory Board Meeting held in Sacramento, Ca: "that BLM advertise and market sale eligible animals (with the intent clause) in foreign countries with known good homes by offering "select sales" for sale eligible animals 11 years of age and over, and for younger animals that have been offered for adoption three times during a 90 day period and that BLM continue to explore opportunities to foster foreign aid by providing sale eligible animals (with the intent clause) to foreign countries for agricultural (nonfood) use." The BLM's response to these recommendations was that it is considering these plans as part of a 5 year strategy plan. While Tom Gorey may continue to claim that it's pure propaganda that the BLM is in the process of eliminating the wild horses, the notes regarding the slaughter of our wild horses in foreign countries, combined with the advisory board recommendation to sell the horses to foreign countries proves otherwise. The BLM’s plan is now clear. They will first ignore the 1971 Wild Free Roaming Horse and Burro Act and gather virtually all the wild herds, working year-round until only a few small, sterile bands remain free. If delayed in one place, they will simply shift their schedule and gather at another as they did with Buckhorn when Calico was delayed. The cost of feeding these captured horses, along with the 37,000 already in holding, will then precipitate an enormous financial crisis. This will leave the BLM with no option but to euthanize or ship to slaughter most of the horses in holding. Vicki | A Voice for Our Horses
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Please don't shoot the "messenger" on this one LOL C ----- Original Message ----- From: vicki tobin To: vicki tobin Sent: Wednesday, December 16, 2009 10:13 AM Subject: Big Correction! Terry emailed me and just found out the SCI is the Safari Club, not Sierra Club that joined the law suit. Although the Sierra Club is anti horse as well as you saw by Rose Strickland’s article, they are not the org that joined the law suit. A few people had questioned it but all we had was SCI. Terry let the folks know that sent her the info - and something we should all do – spell out the names so it is clear. Thanks. v Vicki | A Voice for Our Horses
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Dear Friends, In keeping with my commitment to protect America's wild horses, I thought it important to provide you with an update of where we are with the plans to build a sanctuary for thousands of wild horses currently in holding pens across the country and to inform you of a new initiative I am launching on another front: the wild horse gather schedule that has been proposed by the Bureau of Land Management. Nearly 18 months ago I launched the effort to buy a ranch in Nevada to build a state of the art wild horse sanctuary that would be home to thousands of wild horses that currently stand in holding pens, their fate uncertain. At the time I began this odyssey, there was talk of euthanizing thousands of the wild horses that were and remain in BLM's holding facilities. We were able to take that discussion off the table, though many horses are still going to slaughter in Mexico , and we proceeded to circulate the plan from my Foundation to build a sanctuary that would provide a permanent home for the horses and be accessible as an educational and tourist destination for the American people. We met with every official within the Department of Interior, including Secretary Salazar, assistant secretaries, the new BLM Director, Bob Abbey, and many members of Congress, along with their staff. Secretary Salazar has embraced the idea of public/private partnerships and creating what he calls "preserves," basically along the lines of the proposal I submitted for the sanctuary in Nevada, with one significant difference; he wants to build them in the Midwest or the East, far from the natural habitat of the wild horses and their natural range, Nevada and the other states in the West. His announcement also included plans for two "preserves" that the BLM would buy with $96 million dollars of taxpayer money that would house a total of around 7,000 wild horses. While the Secretary was making his recent announcement to create "preserves" for wild horses, he also laid out his plans for other management activities with the wild horses. Included in his proposal was the announcement that the BLM is going to gather between 12,000 and 13,000 wild horses in the next calendar year, beginning later this month. This proposed gather schedule threatens the very survival of the remaining wild horse herds in the western United States and must be stopped. Among the many things I have discovered during 18 months of negotiating with the BLM is that their management style goes from crisis to crisis, never quite achieving any resolution of a major problem before a new one arises. At the time I began the discussion of a sanctuary for wild horses, there were 33,000 of them in various holding facilities, some short term and some long term. There are still 33,000 wild horses in holding facilities, some that have been in the same facility for up to two years, and still no answer to that problem. The holding facilities now managed by the BLM are full to the maximum and they are having difficulty finding more long term holding, another concept unique to their management style and arguably not consistent with their mandate under the law to "preserve and protect" wild horses for future generations. In spite of the fact that all the facilities are full, they propose to gather another 12,000 horses with virtually no place to put them. Even if the Secretary's announced plans to buy and create two preserves could be done, it could not be accomplished for another one to three years at the earliest and that is assuming that the Congress will appropriate the money, an assumption that is unlikely given the current budget crisis. And yet my Foundation plan to build a sanctuary using private dollars for the purchase of the land languishes on some bureaucrat's desk. Rest assured I will not give up on the plan to build the sanctuary so the American people have a place where they can come and witness the majesty and grace of our great legacy, the wild horses. But I must also turn my attention to what I consider the current crisis and challenge, the gathering of 12,000 or more wild horses. There are many reasons why we must stop this massive gather. To begin with, there is a legitimate dispute over the number of wild horses remaining on the range, and the BLM number of over 30,000 must be called into question. There have been repeated calls for new census methodology to be utilized to determine the actual number of wild horses remaining on the ranges in the western United States . The BLM has resisted these calls and relied on outdated and ineffective methods of counting horses. Before we know how many wild horses actually remain on the range, we cannot allow 12,000 or more to be gathered. Over 21 million acres of land originally designated as Herd Management Area available to our wild horses has been taken away from them. This was done by zeroing out over 100 Herd Management Areas designated by the original Will Horse and Burro Act legislation. The BLM committed over a year ago to produce a report on the status of those lands, yet nothing has been forthcoming in that regard. In most cases, those 21 million acres are now being grazed by cattle. Another argument not being taken into consideration deals with the genetics of the herd structure of many of the herds and bands of wild horses designated for gathers in the coming year. Many equine scientists have written and discussed the issue of genetics and many have concluded that taking existing herd numbers below certain levels will have a devastating effect on the future reproduction rates and activities of those herds. The BLM is not applying a scientific approach to the issue of genetics when designing these gathers and the result of ignoring these issues could easily result in the future disappearance of these wild horse herds through sickness and disease or inferior breeding. As I mentioned earlier, there is no room for 12,000 additional wild horses in the BLM's existing facilities. Gathering them without a plan that addresses where to put them will only result in another round of discussion about euthanasia and slaughter. I am launching an effort to stop these proposed gathers and I will engage at many different levels in order to succeed. Your continued monitoring and support of the wild horses is greatly appreciated and I ask you to continue to check my website (www.MadeleinesMustangs.org) for updates on my efforts to stop the gathers and to get the sanctuary built. Together we can succeed in protecting our wild horses for future generations. Thank you, Madeleine Pickens Saving America’s Mustangs last month announced the formation of a 25-member Advisory Board consisting of prominent entertainment and sports figures. The Committee presently consists of: June Jones – CHAIRMAN, SMU “Mustangs” Head Football Coach Troy Aikman -- NFL Hall of Fame Dallas Cowboys QB & Super Bowl MVP Michael Blake -- Academy Award Winning Screenwriter, “Dances With Wolves” Jenny Craig -- Founder, Jenny Craig, Inc. Mark Cuban -- Owner, NBA Dallas Mavericks David Foster -- Grammy Award-Winning musician, composer, singer, songwriter, and producer Jerry Jones -- Owner, NFL Dallas Cowboys Toby Keith -- Legendary Country Music Singer Adrienne Maloof-Nassif -- Executive Vice President, Maloof Companies (NBA Sacramento Kings & Palms Casino and Resort) T. Boone Pickens -- Legendary Businessman Mike Post -- Grammy and Emmy Award-Winning Composer Rudy Ruettiger -- Notre Dame Football Legend and real life inspiration for the movie "Rudy" Junior Seau -- NFL All-Pro Linebacker for San Diego Chargers, Miami Dolphins & NE Patriots Emmitt Smith -- NFL All-Pro Running Back for the Dallas Cowboys and Arizona Cardinals Roger Staubach -- NFL Hall of Fame former Dallas Cowboys QB & Super Bowl MVP Barry Switzer -- Former Dallas Cowboys Head Football Coach Thurman Thomas -- NFL Hall of Fame Running Back Doug Williams -- Super Bowl MVP, former Washington Redskins QB About Saving America ’s Mustangs
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Manes and Tails Group Urges Adoption of Wild Herds HOBOKEN, (M&T) - As practically all of us already know, the 'Wild Horse Annie Act of 1971' was passed largely due to a letter writing campaign by school children. These were handwritten letters to representatives and senators, and sometimes letters to President Richard Nixon. In an era where email and petitions are so easy to fall back on, activism can easily be renamed 'slacktivism.' It is easier to fill out a form and press 'send' and feel confident that you have made a difference. This is not always the case. Parents and teachers should encourage their young children to write to President Obama's daughters Sasha and Malia. Children should write their letters in their own words and handwriting. Even if the First Lady never allows her daughters to see these letters, it will draw attention to the plight of the wild horses and burros. Eventually, President Obama will hear about it and hopefully enforce the moratorium and direct Secretary Salazar to completely reorganize the management of the BLM, Forest Service, Parks Service and the Fish and Wildlife Service so that these agencies are no longer perpetrators of a genocide, which is exactly what they have been for years. Besides the wild horses and burros, there are the wolves, the polar bears and other species some of which have actually been removed from the Endangered Species List. This has been done by Secretary Salazar whom has given our public lands to the welfare ranchers such as Monsanto on a silver platter. Famed Wildlife Ecologist Craig Downer has provided the names of the wild horse herds. We are encouraging individuals, towns, and cities to adopt a herd. Of course, since American tax payers are already paying for the horses and burros stolen from the range, and those few still on the range, we need not worry about having to pledge any funds to claim them as ours. They are already our horses and burros and we must drive that point home. Here are the names and locations of the herds: NW Nevada there is: the Calico Mountain herd In Central Nevada there is: the Red Rock herd In Western Nevada there is: the Pine Nut herd In Utah there is the Sulphur herd. In Colorado there is Little Bookcliffs herd. In Wyoming there is Adobe Town herd. In Oregon there is the Kiger herd in Steen Mountains. In Montana there is the Pryor Mountain Herd. There are more than enough herds to be metaphorically adopted. Once your town or city adopts a herd, make the local media aware of it. Someone in your town or city should be the sponsor for this endeavor. Meet with the local Chamber of Commerce or the Mayor's office to 'officially' adopt your herd.
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An advocate(Nicole)contributed this next piece.Very interesting!I wish someone could locate the actual link to this article.I think it would be an important piece of info to send legislators: The newspaper "Animal People" had an interesting article.
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Agency Says it Will Go Ahead With Roundup CHICAGO, (EWA) – Wild horse advocates from around the US reacted with dismay and outrage Wednesday as the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) announced that the Calico Complex round-up of over 2,700 wild horses will proceed on December 28 as planned. Despite receiving over 10,000 public comments on the impending round-up, the BLM turned a tin ear to the public outcry and indicated it will sign a “No Impact” decision. A no impact decision means that the public comments sent to the BLM had absolutely no impact on their decision to move forward with the round-up. This egregious decision further perpetuates the perception that the BLM is managing the wild herds to extinction. John Holland, EWA President said of the decision: “The BLM is operating in direct opposition to the very law that they are charged with enforcing (the 1971 Wild Free Roaming Horse and Burro Act). This outrageous decision makes a mockery of the whole public comment process.” The decision comes during a perfect storm of public outrage calling for a moratorium on wild horse and burro round-ups. During the past week, the number of organizations and dignitaries supporting the moratorium has grown to 180. Among the recent dignitaries joining the call were, Bill Maher of HBOs hit series, Real Time with Bill Maher, author of Dances with Wolves, Michael Blake, Genesis Award winner of the movie Blinders, Donny Moss, John Paul DeJoria, CEO & Co-Founder of John Paul Mitchell Systems, Jorja Fox, from the hit series CSI, Neal Schon, Multi Platinum Recording Artist and founding member of the rock band Journey, and comedienne Lily Tomlin. Actor and Social activist, Mariana Tosca, said today "With no oversight and no independent assessment, the Bureau ofLand Management is running roughshod over the rights these horses were guaranteed by the Wild Free-Roaming Horse and Burro Act of 1971, reducing herds without any statutory authority to do so.“ Ms. Tosca and Viggo Mortensen were early proponents for the unified call for a moratorium. Wednesday also marked the deadline forthe public to submit comments for the BLM Advisory Board meeting that will be held on Monday, December 7. The bureau turned a deaf ear to public comment during their last meeting in Washington D.C., cutting short many prominent wild horse advocates as they attempted to address the board. Many ofthose trying to comment today online reported they were unable to do so because the BLM mailbox was full and not accepting new email. “We are encouraging the public to attend the meeting and voice their opinion on the blatant mismanagement our wild herds”, said Vicki Tobin, vice president of the EWA.The only remaining chance for the Calico Complex horses to remain free is a lawsuit filed on behalf of the Calico Complex herds by In Defense of Animals and EWA advisor Craig Downer. The case is scheduled to be heard on December 16th. The EWA is optimistic that the court will find the BLM in violation of the 1971 Wild Horse and Burro Act as a Colorado court has done previously.
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The Big Story GAO Set to Begin Hasty and Brief Horse Industry Audit WASHINGTON DC, (AHC) In January, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) will begin a study of the status of horse welfare in the US as it relates to the closing of the slaughter plants. The report is to be completed by March 1, 2010. GAO will be studying how the horse industry has responded to the plant closings in terms of horse sales, exports, adoptions and abandonments. In addition, GAO is instructed to review the impact that the closures have had on farm income and state and local government organizations. It is important that the horse industry provide whatever information it has so that the GAO can do a complete study. We want to be sure that the GAO is aware of all that the industry has done over the last few years to deal with the horses that may have gone to slaughter if the plants had been operating. The AHC is compiling information on this issue and the industry’s response to this problem; it will be provided to GAO. It is important that you assign this task to someone at your organization who can compile this information and make it available to the AHC within the next few weeks. The study was requested by Congress. The GAO is an independent federal agency that Congress often turns to for reports and analysis of important issues. GAO evaluates federal programs and policies; and provides analyses, recommendations, and other data to help Congress make informed policy, and funding decisions on issues before it. Specifically, GAO is directed to study the following issues: How the horse industry has responded to the closure of U.S. horse slaughter facilities in terms of both the numbers of horse sales, exports, adoptions, or abandonments; The implications these changes have had on farm income and trade; The extent to which horses in the United States are slaughtered for any purpose; Any impacts to State and local governments and animal protection organizations; How the Department oversees the transport of horses destined for slaughter in foreign countries, particularly Canada and Mexico; The manner in which the Department coordinates with the Department of the Interior and State governments to assist them in identifying, holding and transporting unwanted horses for foreign export; and General conclusions regarding the welfare of horses as a result of a ban on horse slaughter for human consumption. While GAO will look to others, like USDA, state and local governments, and horse care organizations, for some of this information, the horse industry has an opportunity and obligation to provide some of it. For example, the horse industry can provide the following information to GAO: Information on what has been done by your organization, facility, or event to deal with these unwanted horses. This would include educational efforts, such as articles in you magazines or periodicals (provide copies), retraining programs, fundraising efforts, associating with equine care or use facilities, etc; The effect of unwanted horses on sales and auctions of your horses, on income to your members, on foreign trade; Copies of any articles or reports you have from national or local newspapers or news programs or your members or others on unwanted horses, abandoned or neglected horses, etc.; Any stories you have regarding successes in caring for or finding new homes or activities for these horses; Any programs your organization has instituted to help ensure that no horse becomes unwanted; information about horses in need on your website; any resources you have made available to help owners with their horses; any means you have instituted to allow owners to track their horses so they can be returned for care if necessary; any programs you have to provide direct assistance, like feed or funding, to help owners; any programs to assist in population control, like gelding programs; In sum, any information that will illustrate the efforts that the industry has made to deal with this problem of unwanted horses and any information on the effects of closing the plants.
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Wildlife Management Workshop: PLEASE CROSS POST WHERE APPROPRIATE. The Lyon County Advisory Board to Manage Wildlife will be holding a workshop session on Monday evening, December 7th, regarding the Winecup Gamble wild horse sanctuary proposal. Gary Weisbart, Manager of the Winecup Gamble ranch will explain the details involved in this 1 million acre sanctuary proposal and provide the range science data used to formulate Winecup's management strategies. During the "workshop" portion of the meeting, citizens present can ask questions about the proposal and also make comments. The meeting will be held in the commons (multi-purpose room) of the Silver Stage High School, 3755 W. Spruce (South off US-50,) in Silver Springs, NV. Please note that the meeting will commence at 7.00 PM (instead of the Board's usual earlier meeting time) in order to provide enough time for persons attending the National Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board to travel to Silver Springs. No matter how folks stand on the issue of wild horse sanctuaries and alternative habitats, this meeting will provide an opportunity for all interested parties to learn about a significantly researched proposal and have their questions answered. Please note that the purpose of this meeting / workshop is to provide public access to information and to replace rumor and speculation with facts and dialogue. The Board is not scheduled to make any recommendations on the project at this time. Members of the public are encouraged to interact, so long as the proceedings remain orderly. The official agenda is attached. Please pass this information along to any interested parties. Thanks! Willis Lamm, Member Lyon County Advisory Board to Manage Wildlife
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Posted by: "Marge" redmm97@cox.net redmm97 Sun Nov 29, 2009 1:15 pm (PST) ----- Original Message -----
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Many thanks to those writing letters and being a voice for the wild horses and burros. Robin forwarded message: Robin, Wanted to give you good breaking news, with thanks for all your good work for the horses. We are being heard. This is only a month delay ... the roundup was slated to start next week ... but a lifetime for a young foal in the winter range. Thank you, -- FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Since 1971, the BLM has removed over 270,000 horses from their Western home ranges and taken away nearly 20 million acres of wild horse habitat. Only 37,000 wild horses and burros remain on public lands in the West. By contrast, millions of cattle graze our public lands. Thirty-two thousand wild horses who have been removed from the range are already held in government holding facilities, and the BLM intends to round up 12,000 more horses in FY 2010. In Defense of Animals is an international animal protection organization located in San Rafael, Calif. dedicated to protecting animals’ rights, welfare, and habitat through education, outreach, and our hands-on rescue facilities in Mumbai, India, Cameroon, Africa, and rural Mississippi. forwarded by: Robin J. Yager, Director http://www. http://www.springfarmcares.org (no spaces) Life is as dear to the mute creature as it is to man. Just as one wants
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-----Original Message----- From: Laura Allen [lauraallen@ http://www.animallawcoalition.com/horse-slaughter/article/1093
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I took another look at the federal register announcement for the WH&B meeting on the Dec. 7. They accept email comments!!!! Knowing that so few advocates can actually be present, maybe we can make ourselves known through e-mail comments. Just published an article in hopes of spurring that kind of action. We have to hit them from every angle possible and hit them HARD. Here is the link to the article and to the federal registerEmail comments to: Be Sure to Put : WH&B"s in the subject line.Thanks! Article below is old but the story lines(with the BLM) remain the same! : Another example - BLM director forced to resign - From the March 18, 2002 issue of High Country News IDAHO
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BLM Plan Could Make the Mustang as Rare as the Buffalo By Steven Long HOUSTON, (Horseback) – Of the 14,000 wild horses the Bureau of Land Management will take from their wilderness homes next year, the agency will only return 2,200 to the wild. A substantial number of the horses taken in BLM “gathers” will be mares. And of those, the agency says it will render 800 incapable of reproducing, or almost 40 percent of the heard strength returning to the wild. Equine geneticists claim the government’s plan is to eliminate wild horses from the American West in favor of cattle leases where ranchers pay a $1.35 per head per month. Under this formula, there will be precious few Mustangs left in the West a generation from now. Wild horse lovers claim it is a rape of the national wildlife heritage comparable to the 19th century destruction of the buffalo herds that once roamed the land. The BLM claims the horses are hard on the land, but currently there are only slightly more than 30,000 left in the wild according to the agency. That number is hotly disputed by animal welfare advocates. More than 1 million cows graze on the public acreage, yet the agency never complains of bovine damage to meadows and riparian areas. The agency controls 262 million acres. The government claims wild horses breed resulting in a 20 percent each increase in herd size each year resulting in an ever growing population. Yet entire foal crops are wiped out in some herd management areas each year by predators such as wolves and mountain lions. There are only slightly more than 60,000 wild horses left, and half are already in BLM holding pens eating government feed, hay, and grazing land at an ever growing cost to the taxpayer. Sen. Mary Landrieu, (D) Louisiana, has called for the BLM to submit a report next year on how it plans to change what is currently perceived as gross mismanagement. The agency says no herd management areas will be left bare of wild horses after next year’s roundups, however, anecdotal reports coming into Horseback’s offices this week tell another story. No wild horses can be found on a Nevada refuge after an October roundup, sauces say, yet the BLM claims horses are still there? Perhaps they are ghosts who only appear to government bureaucrats? Observers suffering from eye strain wonder. The drug of choice to render mares incapable of reproducing is PZP. It is provided to the agency in a cozy deal with the Humane Society of the United States. Activists charge the nation’s largest animal welfare operation has a conflict of interest when it comes to wild horses. Some have become increasingly aggravated with a perceived lack of action on the part of the HSUS, as well as the Washington based Animal Welfare Institute to halt BLM’s aggressive roundup schedule. In fact, HSUS applauded a BLM plan announced recently by Interior Secretary Ken Salazar to remove wild horse herds from the west and place them as tourist attractions in the Midwest and East. Wild horse experts scoff at the plan. Neither HSUS or AWI has lent their name or prestige to a petition demanding President Obama call a moratorium on BLM roundups of wild horses. The hard hitting petition has been submitted to the White House by The Cloud Foundation and the Equine Welfare Alliance. Frustration with HSUS boiled over when EWA co-founder John Holland wrote last week to Wayne Pacelle, CEO of the Humane Society, regarding the perception that the relationship with BLM appears to be too cozy. “ Have you given any consideration to how HSUS is gradually being made more and more complicit in this rapidly expanding assault on our wild herds? Are you comfortable with that complicity?” Holland wrote. “It is now clear that the BLM is planning for the elimination or eventual extinction of the herds. I am deeply concerned that HSUS may be drawn into a ballooning potential scandal.” Pacelle didn’t give Holland the courtesy of a reply, instead directing a wildlife scientist with HSUS to respond. “The HSUS supports the use of contraception as a management tool to bring horses to, and maintain, viable populations on the range,” wrote Stephanie Boyles. “The HSUS does not support the gather and removal of any wild horse, except in cases in which the health or safety of an individual horse is in question, for which there is not the probability of locating an appropriate adoptive home.” forwarded by: Robin J. Yager, Director http://www. http://www.springfarmcares.org (no spaces) Life is as dear to the mute creature as it is to man. Just as one wants
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Wild horse activists buzz Denver with anti-Salazar banner By Bruce Finley Posted: 11/20/2009 05:58:25 PM MST Updated: 11/20/2009 06:06:14 PM MST Wild horse advocates tried to challenge a federal relocation proposal by flying a banner over Denver this afternoon that called Interior Secretary Ken Salazar "the slaughter czar." New Mexico-based Wild Horse Observers Association co-founder Patience O'Dowd said her group opposes Salazar's proposal to re-locate thousands of the wild horses that roam the West. They paid $2,000 to fly the banner over the federal center in Lakewood, where the Interior Department has offices, and over central Denver until sunset. Salazar was not in Colorado today. The proposal calls for keeping some 25,000 non-reproducing horses at seven preserves in the Midwest and East. It would be more humane and feasible to manage growing wild herds by shooting birth-control darts at the horses from helicopters, O'Dowd said. The growth of wild horse herds over 40 years has challenged federal land managers to find a way to balance wild horse, cattle industry and energy interests without slaughter while also minimizing costs to taxpayers. Federal officials over the past year spent $29 million caring for some 32,000 wild horses and burros rounded up into fenced holding areas around the West. "We have to find a humane way to manage the horses on the range so that they avoid starvation and so that ecosystems are protected from overgrazing," Salazar spokesman Matt Lee-Ashley said. "Nobody is proposing slaughter." Opponents to the management plan, he said, "have let their imaginations run wild." Bruce Finley: 303-954-1700 or bfinley@denverpost.com Celebs, Regular Americans Demand Obama Wild Horse Moratorium Actors Ed Harris, Wendie Malick and Over 100 Organizations Demand Roundup Moratorium, Protesting Nevada's Calico Complex Roundup to begin December 1.
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Singer adds voice to call for better wild horse strategies November 21, 2009 Singer Sheryl Crow has added her voice to calls for better management of America's wild horses and burros. Crow has added her name to a letter to United States politicians demanding a moratorium on wild horse musters, and raising concerns over a proposed northern Nevada muster in the so-called Calico Complex that would see 2500 horses taken from the wild. More than 100 organisations have signed the letter, including actors Ed Harris and Wendie Malick. "With one voice we are insisting that our government stop managing these beautiful and important animals to extinction," Crow said. "It's time for all of us to speak up for our Wild Horses and Burros so we do not lose these living legends and inspiring symbols of our freedom in America," she said. The signatories want a moratorium until a long-term and humane policy to manage the animals is developed. The groups have concerns over Bureau of Land Management proposals to move horses further east and the current practice of removing horses and burros entirely from public lands specifically designated for the animals by Congress in 1971. Crow urged US President Barack Obama and Interior Secretary Ken Salazar to stop musters. "We request that the government and bureau begin to work in good faith with wild horse advocates for a sustainable solution. "The Calico Roundup, scheduled to begin in December and continue through the dead of winter, is inhumane and must be stopped," she said. So far, more than 7000 submissions have been received on the Calico roundup. The groups point to the more than 33,000 wild horses already held in government holding facilities, costing $US100,000 a day. "We already have enough wild horses in pens," said Ginger Kathrens, executive director of the Cloud Foundation. "Adding more horses to those already held in confinement, when they are much safer on the range is short-sighted, inhumane and fiscally irresponsible." The bureau is understood to be paying a private contractor $US610 per horse rounded up for an estimated total of nearly $US2 million for the Calico roundup alone. Branding, vaccinating, sterilising and processing of horses to be placed in government holding facilities will cost several million more. Wild horse advocate Julianne French accused the US Government of acting in defiance of the spirit and intent of the 1971 Free Roaming Wild Horses and Burros Act. The act preserves wild horses and burros in over 300 areas of publicly owned rangeland in the west, forbidding their exploitation, harassment and removal. Only 30 million acres remain of the 54 million acres designated primarily for wild horse use in 1971. More than 100 herds have been completely removed by the bureau and the groups fear some remaining herds are too small to ensure their long-term survival. The groups have placed online the details of those who people wanting to express their views should contact. http://www.thecloudfoundation.
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Nationally Known author to read WILDHORSE advocate letters aloud at DEC 7th BLM Meeting: I thought you might like to pass on my recent blog :TYPE INTO BROWSER: http://www.blogger.com/ READING ROCKS!
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The Big Story - A Horseback Exclusive BLM Will Treat 3,000 Wild Mares with Fertility Drug After Decimating Herds by Capture By Steven Long HOUSTON, (Horseback) – The year 2010 will mark an enormous turning point in the history of America’s wild horses and burros as their caretaker, the federal Bureau of Land Management, launches an aggressive campaign to remove them from their wilderness homes. The agency claims the horses are breeding at an alarming degree, destroying the land, and starving. Animal welfare organizations such as the Chicago based Equine Welfare Alliance and the Cloud Foundation of Colorado Springs disagree and have launched a global petition drive to force a president who was elected on a platform of change to halt business as usual at the BLM and halt the capture of America's wild horses. If the roundups proceed, critics charge the herds may well be genetically bankrupt – unable to propagate in the wild. Horseback Magazine put the BLM on the record. The following is the response we got from national spokesman Tom Gory. HORSEBACK MAGAZINE: How many wild horses will be left on BLM land after the 2010 gathers? GORY: The on-the-range population will be approximately 34,000 after the 2010gather season. This figure reflects the fact that herd populations grow atan average rate of 20 percent. HORSEBACK: How many of the remaining mares in the wild will have been treated with fertility drugs? GORY: We are planning on treating approximately 3,000 mares for FY 2010. HORSEBACK: Will any of the horse management areas set upin 1971 that currently serve as habitat to wild horse and burros be left bare of equines after the roundups? GORY: No HMAs that are currently maintaining horses will be bare of equines after the FY 2010 gather season. HORSEBACK: What specifically is the relationship between the BLM and the Humane Society of the United States in terms of the use and supply of thefertility drug PZP on wild horses? Gory: The BLM has an agreement with HSUS signed on 10/23/06. The agreement states that the BLM agrees to: 1. Continue a cooperative relationship with the HSUS concerning thefurther development of contraceptive vaccines for use in controlling wildhorse populations. 2. Develop policies that promote and facilitate the use of contraception within the constraints of existing laws and regulations. The goals of these policies are to: a. reduce the growth rate of wild horse populations; b. reduce the frequency of removal actions on wild horse herds; c. reduce the number of animals that must be removed from the public rangelands; and d. reduce the overall costs of wild horse management. 3. Monitor the effects and effectiveness of the use of fertility control vaccine on wild horse populations, and keep the HSUS informed ofthe results of that monitoring. HSUS agrees to: 1. Ensure a reliable supply of contraceptive vaccine, including adjuvants and other components. 2. Improve preparation and delivery methods for safe and effective application of the vaccine. 3. Work towards increasing the effectiveness of the drug while ensuring its safety to humans and animals. BLM and HSUS agree to: 1. Educate and inform the public on the role that contraception can play in the management and control of wild horse populations on publiclands. 2. Work toward meeting the EPA and/or the FDA requirements fornon-investigational use of the contraceptive vaccine. 3. Meet annually at a minimum to review progress of provisions agreed to in this Memorandum Of Understanding. Consistent with that agreement, the BLM has a cooperative research project involving two HMAs that is funded by an Annanberg Foundation grant to look at: 1. What are the effects of the 22-month PZP vaccine on the population's foaling and growth rates? 2. What are the effects of a PZP booster administered remotely in year 3 on the fertility of individual treated mares and on the population's foaling and growth rates? 3. What are the effects of PZP treatments on the health and social dynamics of treated bands? Take action now!!! Hi, folks. Now that we’ve had time to breathe, it’s time to keep the momentum moving forward! Send the letter to your legislators and ask that they support this in Congress. Let us know what responses you receive! We also want to continue adding supporters to the unified call. I have updated the EWA site to include the below. The Cloud Foundation also has similar information. Feel free to post this on your sites, blogs and cross post to your email groups. Add your voice to the unified call for a moratorium on wild horse and burro round-ups! Individuals: Please sign The Cloud Foundation Petition. The goal is 12,043 signatures representing the number of wild horses and burros targeted for removal. I also have a section for BUZZ from our supporters. If any of you have any brief comments you want to add, please send ‘em on to me. I’ll only display your first name and first letter of your last name unless you specify otherwise. Here is a link to the list that was provided in the press release. I have added a section starting on page 6 for supporters joining after the release was issued. The two list will be merged together in about 30 days. We have to preserve the original list for the integrity of the press releases. http://www.equinewelfarealliance.org/uploads/Supporter-List.doc Thank you one and all for everything you do!
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Permission to cross post R- From EWA: This was issued by the Cloud Foundation and is now being released to EWA press contacts. You can start spreading the word on this one! As an FYI, Actor Mariana Tosca just endorsed the moratorium and will be included in the next press release. November 20, 2009 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: John Holland Equine Welfare Alliance 540.268.5693 john@equinewelfarealliance.org Ginger Kathrens The Cloud Foundation 719.633.4933 Sheryl Crow Asks President Obama & Secretary Salazar to Stop the Assault on America’s Wild Horses and Burros Actors Ed Harris, Wendie Malick and Over 100 Organizations Demand Roundup Moratorium, Protesting Nevada’s Calico Complex Roundup to begin December 1. CHICAGO, (EWA) – Sheryl Crow speaks out for the wild horses and burros on America’s public lands in the west. The multi-GRAMMY®-winning singer-songwriter and mustang owner joins The Cloud Foundation, over 130 organizations, scientists, authors and celebrity supporters calling on President Obama, Members of Congress and the Department of Interior to place an immediate moratorium on all wild horse and burro roundups until a long-term and humane policy to manage the animals is developed. “With one voice we are insisting that our government stop managing these beautiful and important animals to extinction” —Sheryl Crow The Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) removal plan for Nevada’s Calico Complex wild mustangs is fueling outrage across the country and internationally. In a unified sign-on letter, wild horse supporters outline their opposition to the Obama Administration's October 7, 2009 announcement regarding the management of wild horses and burros. Groups oppose moving 26,000 wild horses to purchased lands in the east and the current government practice of removing entire wild horse and burros herds from public lands specifically designated for the animals by Congress in 1971. “We ask that President Obama or Secretary Salazar cease all BLM roundups as of this date to prevent further suffering. We request that the government and BLM begin to work in good faith with wild horse advocates for a sustainable solution. The Calico Roundup, scheduled to begin in December and continue through the dead of winter, is inhumane and must be stopped!” —Sheryl Crow Upon hearing about the BLM’s plans for the large-scale removal of 2,500 horses in northwest Nevada near the Black Rock Desert, more than seven thousand citizens submitted public comments to the BLM opposing the Calico Mountain Complex Round Up, scheduled to begin on December 1, 2009. Public comment has been extended through November 22, 2009 according to the BLM. Currently more than 33,000 wild horses are stockpiled in government holding facilities at a cost to taxpayers of $100,000 a day. The scheduled removal of 2,500 from Nevada will bring that total to more than 35,000. “We already have enough wild horses in pens. Adding more horses to those already held in confinement, when they are much safer on the range is shortsighted, inhumane and fiscally irresponsible.” —Ginger Kathrens, Emmy Award Filmmaker & Volunteer Executive Director of the Cloud Foundation. The BLM will pay the private contractor $610 per horse rounded up for an estimated total of nearly $2 million for the Calico roundup alone according to BLM spokesperson, Tom Gorey. Branding, vaccinating, sterilizing and processing of horses to be placed in government holding will cost several million more. The BLM hired the same contractor for the controversial roundup of the famous stallion, Cloud, and his Pryor Mountain herd in September, 2009. Bands including two-month-old foals were chased down off the mountaintop by helicopter for 10-15 miles in more than 90 degree heat resulting in trauma and lameness. "The government is acting in defiance of the spirit and intent of the 1971 Free Roaming Wild Horses and Burros Act (1971 Act) which Congress passed unanimously —Julianne French, wild horse advocate. The 1971 Act preserves wild horses and burros in over 300 areas of publicly owned rangeland in the west, forbidding their exploitation, harassment and removal. Regardless, only 30 million acres remain of the 54 million acres designated primarily for wild horse use in 1971. Over 100 herds have been completely removed by the BLM and most remaining herds are too small to insure their long-term survival. The BLM's current policy of eradicating these herds is a betrayal of the wishes of the American public. Sheryl Crow, with wild mustang and burro supporters, calls the public to action urging all to write, e-mail, fax and phone Secretary of the Interior, Ken Salazar, their congressional representatives and President Obama. The list of contact phones, e-mails, faxes and mailing addresses is online here. “It's time for all of us to speak up for our Wild Horses and Burros so we do not lose these living legends and inspiring symbols of our freedom in America.” —Sheryl Crow Vicki Tobin forwarded by: Robin J. Yager, Director http://www.partnershelpinganimalscoalition-subscribe@yahoogroups.com (remove spacing) http://www.springfarmcares.org (no spaces) Life is as dear to the mute creature as it is to man. Just as one wants
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PLEASE CROSS POST Please sign and pass on to your contacts. Be sure to complete all fields! http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/STOP-THE-ROUNDUPS-SAVE-OUR-WILD-HORSES Post your comments: New Post - "CRUNCHING CALICO" Background into the Calico Complex wild round up. Public comment deadline, Thursday, November 12, 2009. http://www.americanherds.blogspot.com/
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Salazar Presents Ambitious Plan to Manage Wild Horses Preserves in Midwest and East, Sterilizations Proposed as Population Grows Beyond Control in West By Lyndsey Layton and Juliet Eilperin Washington Post Staff Writers The government plans to aggressively sterilize wild horses and transplant thousands to new public preserves in the Midwest and East as a solution to the nearly 40-year-old problem of how to manage the exploding numbers of wild horses in the West, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said Wednesday. "We have a huge problem -- out-of-control populations of wild horses and burros on our public lands," Salazar told reporters. "The problem has been growing and simmering over time, and it's time for us to do something about it that protects the horses, the public lands and the taxpayers." With no natural predators remaining in their habitat, the wild horses and burros that roam federal land in 10 Western states have been thriving, growing from 25,000 in 1971 to 69,000 today. They compete with other wildlife and with cattle for food and water, and they have been blamed for damaging their surroundings. The Bureau of Land Management says the range can support about 26,600 wild horses and burros. But today the free-roaming herds total about 37,000. There are another 32,000 in holding facilities. Salazar is proposing that the federal government spend about $96 million to buy land in the Midwest and East to create two preserves that could each support 3,600 horses. It is unclear exactly where the preserves would be located. The annual operating and maintenance costs would be about $1.7 million, according to the bureau. The secretary said he envisions that the preserves would be open to the public and that tourists would visit to see the horses, but he offered few details about how that would work. The government intends to partner with nonprofit organizations and other private groups to create five more preserves, so that 25,000 animals would be living on preserves by 2014. All the animals would be sterilized or segregated by sex to prevent procreation. At the same time, the government would seek to sterilize or control the reproduction of enough animals on the range so that the birthrate is 3,500 foals a year. That would equal the adoption rate of the wild horses and burros, resulting in no net growth of the wild herd. Under the proposal, the costs for the wild horse and burro program would start decreasing by 2019. Long an American icon and inspiration for song and story, the wild horse has special protection under a 1971 law. The federal statute calls wild horses "living symbols of the historic and pioneer spirit of the West" that should be "protected from capture, branding, harassment, or death." But the same law also requires the government to achieve "appropriate management levels" of roaming horses so that they do not overwhelm federal lands -- and that is the part that has been vexing government officials. Since the 1980s, the federal government has hired cowboys to round up some excess horses and place them in holding facilities, where they await adoption by the public. But the adoption rate has slowed along with the economy. In fiscal 2008, the government placed 3,706 horses into private adoption, compared with 5,701 in fiscal 2005. The number of horses and burros in holding facilities is now about 32,000 -- nearly the same number roaming wild on the range. Meanwhile, the cost to taxpayers for feed and care of the animals in holding facilities keeps climbing. The budget for the wild horse and burro program rose from $39.2 million in fiscal 2007 to more than $50 million last year. A year ago, officials at the Bureau of Land Management suggested they might turn to euthanasia -- causing an immediate outcry from members of Congress, horse lovers and animal advocates. Madeleine Pickens, the wife of billionaire T. Boone Pickens and a racehorse breeder, jumped into the conflict and announced her intention to buy a ranch and adopt 30,000 horses. She created a nonprofit foundation and a Web site, at http://www.madeleinesmustangs.org, and signed a letter of intent to buy land in northeast Nevada. But her negotiations with the government have sputtered over her request for annual federal stipends to care for the horses and the use of some federal lands for grazing. Pickens said Wednesday that she was unsure what Salazar's announcement means for her project. "It's pretty vague," she said, referring to the government's plan. "The good news is they're going to do something, which is more than nothing." Salazar's proposal must be approved by Congress, and a key lawmaker voiced his support Wednesday. "I applaud Secretary Salazar's commitment to reversing the historic trend of treating wild horses like a nuisance and subjecting them to long-term storage and slaughter," said House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Nick J. Rahall II (D-W.Va), who had criticized Interior's handling of the issue in the past. "We have been fighting this battle for a long time now and will continue to do so until the BLM fulfills its duty under the law to protect America's free-roaming wild horses and burros." Some animal advocates, including Wayne Pacelle of the Humane Society, praised the plan, but others decried it. American Horse Defense Fund President Shelley Sawhook said it would be costly and only amounted to "a stop-gap measure." "I'm skeptical of the entire thing," Sawhook said. She blamed the current predicament on government officials having taken 19 million acres of federal habitat away from the horses and burros. "That needs to be returned to the horses," she said. "If that 19 million acres were still there, there would be no need for holding pens. There would be no need for relocation."
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| http://www.aowha.org/war/ Friends,the Society For Range management Conference is going on right now in NV.It is a 3 day deal.Click in the above link to read more about what it is and entails.Then scroll down and click on "Tuesday's Notes".Betty( last name?) and Laura Leigh are there representing our wildhorses/burros.Betty is taking the notes and if u keep reading this link each day -you can see the updated notes as they come in.> You are going to find the questions and answers VERY INTERESTING! . The panel is > pretty loaded with big game and welfare ranching interests and their friends, > There is also a reporter there from Vanity Fair.It's going to get VERY INTERESTING.So keep reading and crosspost.Thanks!
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Dear Friends,there has seemed to be alot of confusion today on exactly who to be contacting for the moratorium,and the hearing for the Roam Act.Chris Heyde of the Animal Welfare Institute has been gracious enough to straighten out the miscommunicating going around the horse world .See below Chairman Grijalva sent a letter in August where he addressed many BLM problems and called for a moratorium. That isn’t new. However, that is all the Committee/Subcommittee can do short of a new bill. Folks should absolutely call for a moratorium, but it should be to the BLM. They should also be writing the Senate Committee calling for a hearing on the ROAM Act. They can bring up the moratorium as well since the issue could be addressed in the Senate hearings. Calls/emails to the House aren’t going to help anything. It is past them now. Should the Senate have a hearing and move ROAM and that includes moratorium language it would go back to the House for a new vote. Then we flood the House (entire House) with calls of support. Chris Heyde
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The Big Story Congressional Committee Will Call for Moritorium on Gathers © by Laura Allen, Executive Director, Animal Law Coalition WASHINGTON, (ALC) - A Congressional staff member has confirmed to Animal Law Coalition that the House Natural Resources Committee is calling on BLM to stop all gathers or removals of wild horses and burros until Congress takes action on the controversial issues surrounding the wild horses and burros. A Congressional staff member told Animal Law Coalition, " It is my understanding that BLM has 11 more roundups planned for 2009 and is expecting to remove more than 6,000 horses. This is unacceptable especially in light of the fact that these roundups are not based on science." Support the House Natural Resources Committee's call for a moratorium! Write or call your U.S. representative and senators and urge them to support a moratorium pending decisions by Congress on the role of the BLM and the course of the wild horses and burros program. Copy the Committee on any fax or letter to your representative and senators so they can see your support for a moratorium! For more information, read Animal Law Coalition's call for a Congressional investigation and moratorium on gathers! Original report: It's time for a public Congressional hearing and investigation of BLM's management of America's wild horses and burros including the new plan recently announced by DOI and BLM. In the meantime and pending decisions about the course of the wild horse and burro program, there should be a moratorium on gathers. On October 7, 2009 Dept. of Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and Bureau of Land Management Director Bob Abbey announced a new 3 part plan for managing America's wild horses and burros in the future. But, other than a press release and a letter to Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) , the specifics of the plan have not been made public. As Mr. Abbey said in the press conference held on Oct. 7, 2009, there are "thousands" of wild horse and burro enthusiasts who care about the fate of these animals. There are also innumerable experts and citizens concerned about BLM's management of these American icons. There should be a public hearing and investigation held by Congress regarding BLM's management of America's wild horses and burros particularly before yet another plan essentially approved only by BLM and DOI is put in place. There should be a moratorium on all gathers until Congress has completed public hearings and an investigation and reached a decision about the appropriate management of these animals consistent with the laws that protect them. These are after all America's wild horses and burros. The Wild Free Roaming Horses and Burros Act (WFRHBA) directs BLM to manage America's wild horses and burros to "maintain free roaming behavior". All management activities by law are to be at the "minimal feasible level". Under WFRHBA America's wild horses and burros are entitled to humane treatment and to remain free from "capture, ...harassment, or death". But, instead, the BLM largely manages these animals by running them down with helicopters and gathering or removing them from public lands to holding facilities, separating families, injuring and even killing horses in the process. A terrifying ordeal that leaves wild horses and burros in holding pens where few are adopted, many are sold for slaughter and still more languish, their spirits and bodies broken. The operation of holding facilities will consume about 70% of the total 2009 budget for these animals. Surely, that is contrary, to say the least, to the directive of the WFRHBA. Indeed, U.S. District Court Judge Rosemary Collyer found in her August 5, 2009 opinion: "It would be anomalous to infer that by authorizing the custodian of the wild-free roaming horses and burros to manage them, Congress intended to permit the animals' custodian to subvert the primary policy of the statute by capturing and removing from the wild the very animals that congress sought to protect from being removed from the wild." Colorado Wild Horse and Burro Coalition, Inc. v. Salazar, No. 06-1609 (D.D.C 2009) Mr. Salazar insists that "arid western lands and watersheds" can't support the few wild horses that remain "without significant damage to the environment" and "degrading public lands". These are reasons typically stated by BLM in its environmental assessments and environmental impact statements to support removals of wild horses and burros from herd areas. And, just as typically, there are no specifics to support these claims. For more examples.... Indeed, Mr. Salazar and BLM do not mention the thousands of cattle grazing and drinking and fouling water on these lands, BLM's land sales, development, increasing recreational use, and mining as well diversion of water from herd areas. Wildlife ecologists say if public lands are "degraded", something that is disputed, these factors are far more to blame. In fact, citizens living in the areas where there are wild horses and burros, including small ranchers, contradict BLM's assessments the range is "degraded" or lacks sufficient water for these few remaining animals. Note that in 1990 BLM claimed the range was the best it had been in the last century. Yet, since then, there has been an increase in the numbers of wild horses and burros removed from the range. There is also no question BLM has routinely renewed grazing permits, finding the range satisfactory for grazing cattle and at the same time, issue environmental assessments that claim the very same range cannot support the few wild horses and burros that remain. BLM has also relied on outdated or what can only be called completely false assessments in its apparent zeal to justify removal of wild horses and burros. Shouldn't Congress at least have a hearing or investigate whether BLM's claims are true? Shouldn't Congress consider whether BLM should even continue as the manager of the wild horses and burros program? An agency that has turned the WFRHBA on its head and instead of managing to maintain free roaming behavior, does so by removing and penning wild horses and burros. It is also questionable whether BLM really has the authority, as it claims, to manage America's wild horses and burros in all respects pursuant to a multiple use concept. Though WFRHBA mentions " multiple-use relationship" in connection with specified ranges, it is very clear that the directive is to manage these animals otherwise only to "maintain a thriving natural ecological balance on the public lands" and "protect the natural ecological balance of all wildlife species which inhabit such lands, particularly endangered wildlife species". In effect, WFRHBA authorizes only limited interference with wild horses and burros in herd areas where they were living in 1971. Nothing about removing wild horses and burros from herd areas where they lived in 1971 to allow multiple use such as cattle grazing, recreation for off road vehicles, mining or development. Also, protecting the ecological balance of all wildlife has never meant rounding up and removing whole species. Especially when there is a law that explicitly protects their right to exist in historic herd areas. Even designated ranges managed under a multiple use concept are to be " devoted principally" to wild horses and burros. The wild horses and burros on these lands are not to be eliminated for cattle or mining or recreation or even secondary to these other uses. Despite the limited authority to interfere with wild horses and burros under WFRHBA, the BLM has decided, however, the multiple public use concept applies to all herd areas as well as ranges. BLM even issued a regulation that effectively rewrites WFRHBA to say the " objectives of these regulations are management of wild horses and burros as an integral part of the natural system of the public lands under the principle of multiple use". 43 CFR § 4700.0-2 Yet, the WFRHBA says only that wild horses and burros " are to be considered in the area where presently found, as an integral part of the natural system of the public lands". 16 U.S.C. §1331. The BLM has also authorized itself to divide herd areas into " herd management areas", something not authorized by WFRHBA. 43 CFR 4710.3-1. In this way, with no statutory authority at all, BLM has limited wild horses and burros' access to thousands of acres that were historically their herd areas. This is done without thought about the horses' seasonal migration patterns or available resources. The BLM then removes wild horses and burros from the artificially created " herd management areas" on the basis there is insufficient forage, water or habitat! BLM also targets them for removal if they cross the artificial boundaries into their original herd areas. While BLM has authorized itself to create divide herd areas into Herd Management Areas, its own regulations provide that " management of wild horses and burros shall be undertaken with the objective of limiting the animals' distribution to herd areas, 43 C.F.R. § 4710.4." Herd area" is defined by regulation as " the geographic area identified as having been used by a herd as its habitat in 1971," 43 C.F.R. §4710.4. Another example of BLM's erosion of the WFRHBA protections is the rewording of the WFRHBA mandate "[ a]ll management activities shall be at the minimal feasible level". BLM's regulation says "[m]anagement shall be at the minimum level necessary to attain the objectives identified in approved land use plans and herd management area plans." 43 CFR 4710.4, 16 U.S.C. §1333. Two very different laws. So if a land use plan authorizes a land giveaway or increased recreation or mining, " management...at a minimum level" can mean round up and removal, according to the BLM. The Federal Land Policy Management Act requires management of public lands under concepts of multiple use and sustained yield. 43 U.S.C. §§ 1701, et seq. But the multiple use concept does not trump the WFRHBA protections for wild horses. In fact, the statute makes clear that the protections under WFRHBA take precedence. FLPMA, 43 U.S.C. § 1732 (a) Yet, despite this, BLM has issued a regulation that provides "[w]ild horses and burros shall be considered comparably with other resource values in the formulation of land use plans." 43 C.F.R. §4700.0-6(b). The BLM's land use plans make clear that contrary to WFRHBA, it does not decide to remove wild horses and burros only to maintain a " thriving natural ecological balance to the range, and protect the range from the deterioration associated with overpopulation". Nor are the protected wild horse ranges " devoted principally" to the use of wild horses and burros. Instead, the BLM clearly embraces the multiple use concept for all lands designated for wild horses and burros. Indeed, the plan seems to be to eliminate or zero out the wild horses and burros in favor of increased development and recreational use, mining, and cattle. Surely, BLM's fast and loose interpretation of the WFRHBA is more than sufficient for Congress to take a look, hold a public hearing and investigate before America's icon is lost forever. It should be noted that BLM has also virtually ignored the directive in the WFRHBA to " maintain a current inventory of wild free-roaming horses and burros on given areas of the public lands". 16 U.S.C. §1333(b). According to WFRHBA, the inventory is critical in determining appropriate management levels or AML and whether there is indeed an overpopulation or excess horses and burros. Yet, BLM has gathered and removed thousands of horses without the important information necessary to determine if the removal is legal. It's time to take a look, an independent census and standardize AML determinations. It is important for Congress to open up for public review the work of an agency that has operated largely in secret, offering the public generally pre-determined courses of action, making a joke out of the public comment process. It is also time BLM or whatever agency that is put in charge of the wild horses and burros took seriously the WFRHBA mandate requiring consultation not with special interests but also a range of independent experts recommended by the National Academy of Sciences, the states and those with "scientific expertise and special knowledge of wild horse and burro protection...[and] wildlife management". 16 U.S.C. §1333(b). Congress should hold public hearings and investigate Secretary Salazar's plan in particular. There are innumerable experts outside of the BLM who should have an opportunity to weigh in on how BLM continues to manage America's wild horses and burros. Secretary Salazar delivered the following 3 part proposal to Sen. Reid: 1. BLM will work with non-profits and the "thousands" of wild horse enthusiasts to create sanctuaries and preserves in the Midwest or east. In fact, BLM appears to have already decided on sever preserves. It is not known who is involved in these transactions or how BLM decided on these preserves. Surely, the public is entitled to know how this happened. Mr. Salazar says tourism would be encouraged and could provide a source of revenue. But the mandate of the WFRHBA is to avoid such zoo-like settings for these American icons. The idea, the law, in fact, is that these animals are to remain free to roam on the public lands where they were living in 1971 when the Act went into effect. 2. Mr. Salazar will designate more ranges for wild horses. He cited the Pryor Mountain herd, recently rounded up and decimated, as an example of a range under BLM protection. 3. This is one of the most troubling aspects of Mr. Salazar and Mr. Abbey's plan. They say BLM will work to restore the "sustainability" of herds and public lands. BLM will continue to round up and remove horses but step up "fertility control", monitor sex ratios, and introduce non-reproducing herds. More like BLM will work toward the extinction of herds. The obvious concern is how a herd that is non-reproducing or sterilized can remain self-sustaining, genetically viable, as mandated by law. There are serious questions here about BLM's determination of sex ratios. These proposals will have a very negative effect on herds and herd behavior. This plan euphemistically referred to as "restoring sustainability" during the press conference, is, in fact, the opposite, a plan to exterminate the wild horses and burros and in doing so, create great chaos and suffering in the herds. In effect, this plan raises real concerns about compliance with WFRHBA's mandate that BLM should manage these animals to maintain "free-roaming behavior" and a "thriving natural ecological balance" in herd areas. There are also growing concerns about the effectiveness and use of the contraceptive, PZP, particularly in view of its effect on herd behavior and dangerous side effects such as out of season foals. These plans likely stem from BLM's secret discussions that began in July, 2008 about ways to eliminate wild horses through unlimited slaughter, killing, manipulation of sex ratios, sterilization of mares, creation of gelding herds and the like. It is telling that here there is no promise in this plan to stop the slaughter of these wild animals or killing of healthy animals. There is no promise to stop the round ups, the decimation of herds, the brutal treatment of America's wild horses and burros in holding facilities. During its discussions in the past year BLM considered ways to keep the public away from round ups and the killing of healthy horses and burros and planned to brand protests as "eco-terrorism". This was all to be done in secret. If Congress does not hold a hearing, investigate this plan and this agency, BLM will have succeeded. WHAT YOU CAN DO The wild horses and burros can be saved. There has to be a better way to manage these animals other than by hiring criminals to run them down with helicopters and penning some for life and sending others to slaughter. The WFRHBA requires them to be protected in their herd areas where they were living in 1971. And that is what the BLM should do. Go here to write your U.S. representative and urge him or her to do the same! TODAY IN THE NEWS: Palomino of Missing Cowboy Found in Trinity River Floodwaters Tattersalls Has 981 Horses in Mare Sale Rachell Doesn't Have a Lock On Horse Of Year Honors Yet Gypsy Horse Joins Riding Program sign the petition: I just got a new blog post up calling for a moratorium on roundups with important links to letters you can write as well as a petition you can sign: Carol Walker 303-823-6642 Wild Hoofbeats: America's Vanishing Wild Horses www.wildhoofbeats.blogspot.com
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FRIENDS,I wonder how many starving animals and children that $150,000 could have fed rather than the government having to leave only 124 horses of the 181 horses left in all of MT?Legislators really need to see these facts firsthand to see the absurdity to it all.All because they are on an energy search and exploration conquests. Also I added the link for all the gathers still to come.There won't be any wildhorses even left in NV if these round-ups are allowed to continue.Please take a few minutes and call /write them today!We continue to be their only voice. It was at a cost of over $150,000 that our government removed 57 horses this September in the Pryors, leaving Cloud and only 124 other horses roaming free in all of Montana. 12,068 horses scheduled for removal in this fiscal year- this is a record number. The BLM Wild Horse and Burro’s program budget was doubled this year but nearly all the additional funds are being allocated to roundups. 2010 BLM Gather Schedule . NOTE: When I called the House Committee of Natural Resources they informed me that The office of Subcommittee on National Parks,Forests,and Lands was handling this matter.They transferred me to that office..Below are their names.If you go to compassionindex.org you can get their individual webmail links.Ask everyone for an IMMEDIATE MORATORIUM ON ANY FURTHER ROUND-UPS until The roundups must stop in order to allow time for independent analysis on the true numbers of horses remaining and investigations into the true reasons for removing 12,000 wild horses and burros this fiscal year. Members of the Dale E. Kildee, Michigan
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http://www.horsebackmagazine. *The report stated the horses died in July, 2009, at a place called Conant Creek, Wyoming when 349 animals were captured by the agency. In fact, officials in charge of the area say that yes, they did have a gather but statistics for what BLM terms the North Lander Complex, which includes Conant Creek, are vastly different from what Washington released.. * *To add to the confusion sowed by BLM, reports have now surfaced that 11 horses did die in a July gather in Idaho.* Activist groups including the Animal Law Coalition, The Cloud Foundation,and the Equine Welfare Alliance have all called for an immediate moratorium on further roundups by the BLM pending Congressional hearings.* *Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, a former Colorado rancher, has thrown his full support behind the roundups and proposed seven holding facilities for wild horses in the Midwest and East which would serve as tourist attractions spotlighting this remnant of the old west – the wild horse.*
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Hi, all. Attached is a press release we just issued through EWA. This was a joint effort and we want to thank Ginger Kathrens, Laura Allen, Deanne Stillman and Shelley Sawhook for their contributions. This release was issued under John and Shelley’s name so we can highlight our founding member’s organizations along with EWA and to recognize Shelley for her tremendous work and efforts. Please wait a few hours before you post on any public sites. I still have another group of media to send to and they don’t like seeing something on the web before they receive it. I will also have a link to the document on the EWA site and my site in about one hour. October 28, 2009 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contacts: John Holland 540.268.5693 john@equinewelfarealliance.org Shelley Sawhook American Horse Defense Fund 866.956.2433 Citizens call for immediate moratorium on wild horse round-ups CHICAGO, (EWA) – The Equine Welfare Alliance (EWA), an umbrella organization comprising over 60 member organizations, announced today it is joining the growing chorus calling for an immediate moratorium on the gathering of wild horses and burros by all government agencies. Already calling for a moratorium are The Cloud Foundation, The Animal Law Coalition and noted expert, wildlife ecologist, Craig Downer and Mustang author Deanne Stillman. On October 7, Ken Salazar, head of the Department of Interior (DOI) and Bob Abbey, head of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), publicly admitted the deficiencies in the current management of the Wild Horse and Burro Program in announcing the development of a new plan. “The Salazar plan would simply throw the herds off of their historical Western lands set aside for them in the 1971 Wild Horse and Burro Act and put them into long term holding facilities which it renames “refuges” explains EWA’s Vicki Tobin. In an August letter to Bob Abbey, Congressmen Raul Grijalva (D-AZ) outlined the deficiencies in the current program over the past several years. To date, none of the deficiencies have been corrected and until range studies can be completed, there is no scientific evidence justifying the removal of wild horses and burros from the land. Following a GAO report in 2008 that found that the BLM did not have adequate funding to support the estimated 37,000 horses they had in holding pens, Congress generously increased their budget. Instead of using the funding for its intended purpose, the BLM has intensified round-ups and has zeroed out many herds while leaving the remaining herds genetically unviable as a result of reduced numbers and mares that were given birth control. The increased round-ups are coming at time when there are more wild horses in holding pens than on the open range at a cost of millions of dollars to tax payers. “The huge number of horses being gathered is effectively guaranteeing a new and worse budget crisis in the immediate future” says EWA’s John Holland. As long suspected by many, the DOI/BLM is on a course to exterminate America’s wild horses and burros. Cameron Bryce, a BLM ecologist was quoted in a recent follow up to George Knapp’s KLAS-TV investigative report, Stampede to Oblivion as stating “Wild horses do not belong in western ecosystems," and that "The 1971 Horse and Burro Act was based on emotions, not science." In a comparative analysis of free-roaming wild horses and burros in relation to habitat, wildlife and livestock populations, wild horses and burros populations pale in comparison. In most cases, the wild horses and burros are being removed in record numbers with no scientific evidence justifying the need for these removals. According to the BLM schedule, another 12,000 wild horses and burros are targeted for removal in 2010. The cries of Americans to their elected officials, the White House and the DOI/BLM remain unanswered. Removing horses without scientific justification is in violation of the 1971 Wild Horse and Burro Act. The 1971 Wild Horse and Burro Act is a law and Americans are demanding that instead of ignoring the law, the BLM enforce it. An immediate moratorium on round-ups must be issued until the range studies are completed and the discrepancies are resolved. If you no longer wish to receive our media releases, please reply to this email with OPT OUT in the subject line. Vicki | A Voice for Our Horses
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How does the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) call themselves wild ho Posted by: "Beth (:" fatoldfarmwife@verizon.net bethofneer Wed Oct 28, 2009 4:37 pm (PDT)
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Steve Long has produced yet another blistering story about BLM's rampage! The Big Story Is a TRO in BLM’s Future? By Steven Long Photo by Terry Fitch HOUSTON, (Horseback) – Activists have been scratching their heads as the federal Bureau of Land Management sweeps America’s wild horses from the Western landscape. Why? Because the 1971 Wild Horse and Burro Act clearly set aside plenty of room for them almost 40 years ago and the agency appears to be in violation of federal law. The first paragraph of the law is clear cut. “It is the policy of Congress that wild free-roaming horses and burros shall be protected from capture, branding, harassment, or death; and to accomplish this they are to be considered in the area where presently found, as an integral part of the natural system of the public lands.” Follow link for full story. http://www.horsebackmagazine.
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The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) & Forest Service are moving as fast as they can - rounding up America's horses by the hundreds, emptying traditional rangelands. The BLM refuses to allow legally mandated independent humane observers to watch. If they had nothing to hide, the humane observers would be there. Can you help keep up the pressure with a few phone calls this week? Talking points, contact info below. We are asking Sen Schumer & Sen Gillibrand to co-sponsor the Restore Our American Mustangs (ROAM) Act, and for an immediate moratorium on these [idiotic] roundups. Together we can win one for the horses, and our kids. Speaking of kids, can you invite your children and grandkids to write a letter? It was the children who got the historic 1971 wild mustang act passed. Thousands of them. One Congressman got 16,000 letters from children IN JUST ONE DAY. Every elected official knows there's no future in voting against the children. A teaching moment for the kids - empathy, responsibility, teamwork, caring, sharing, loyalty and citizenship. Sweet! Thank you, From the Cloud Foundation: www.thecloudfoundation.org October 20, 2009 by thecloudfoundation Please take time to call and write your local media as well as national media— we have made an incredible impact but we cannot let up now. Tell them that this is an issue that matters to YOU, ask them to involve you or another local advocate in the story. The new Cloud program airs on Sunday, Oct. 25th and that will allow even more people to appreciate wild horses. Phone calls to make: Ask for the release of the older horses and reform of the BLM’s Wild Horse and Burro Program, fax your comments as well: White House Switchboard – 202-456-1414 (fax: 202-456-2461) Ask for Senior Advisors: Valerie Jarrett and David Axelrod. Ask for Michelle Obama too, her office is receiving a tremendous number of calls and they need to continue. Call your Senators – switchboard 202-224-3121 and ask that they support S1579, The Restore our American Mustang (ROAM) Act Call the Senate Committee of Natural Resources – 202-224-4971 (fax 202-224-6163) Email here. ask that they push the ROAM Act through immediately– it must go up for a vote soon in the Senate Demand reform for our wild horses, it is too late for thousands but it is not yet too late for Cloud’s herd and many others. The roundup crews are headed next to the Steens Mountains of Oregon.We have been told that there will be no observers or photographers allowed. This is illegal- these are the public’s wild horses. Right now 12 herds are being zeroed out in Nevada, 650 horses off 1.4 million acres because the land is not suitable… but the horses have been living there for over a hundred years. Please take time to call now, we are losing our wild horses in the West and the world is watching: read recent articles here and our latest press release. -------- Robin J. Yager, Director http://www. http://www.springfarmcares.org (no spaces) Life is as dear to the mute creature as it is to man. Just as one wants
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---- Original Message ----- From: vicki tobin To: vicki tobin Sent: Tuesday, September 29, 2009 9:01 AM Subject: Horseback Magazine BLM Series | Startling Statistics Excellent piece from Horseback. http://www.horsebackmagazine. Startling Statistics Enlightening on BLM Management of Wild Horse Program Compiled by Laura Leigh Photo by Ginger Kathrens BAINBRIDGE ISLAND, WA, - In 1974 there were approximately 57,000 wild horses and burros actually counted on public lands. Today - There are fewer than 36,000 wild horses and burros estimated on public lands. In a December 1971 report to Congress the BLM estimated that there were about 9500 wild horses and 7500 burros on public lands. In 1974 a ground count was done and found about 42,000 horses and 15,000 burros. The next year, the BLM concedes there were probably considerably more than 9500 horses in 1971; probably closer to 28,000. (Allowing for the assumed 10% "overcount" still doesn't reconcile the difference between 42,000 and 28,000. Nonetheless the doctored numbers are the ones generally offered to the public and the actual count isn't acknowledged unless someone asks specific questions about the 1974 horse and burro census.) *The 1974 census was limited to BLM and US Forest Service lands did not include several thousand horses and burros found within National Parks or US Fish & Wildlife Properties. The present population figures of 37,000 circulated by BLM includes both horses and burros, approximately 20,000 head fewer than counted in the 1974 census. Since 1971 wild horses and burros have been removed from 102 ranges (Herd Areas) representing a loss of approximately 13 million acres of land. (There were 303 original Herd Areas - now only 201 Herd Management Areas [HMAs] remain. Wild horses and burros now reside on 34,549,570 acres of the 261,950,378 acres managed by BLM Oct. 2008 GAO-BLM In fiscal year 2007, the program was funded at $36.4 million under BLM’s Management of Lands and Resources appropriation. Forty-four BLM field units manage approximately 33,100 wild horses and burros on 199 Herd Management Areas (HMA) covering over 34 million acres in 10 western states— Arizona, California, Colorado , Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, and Wyoming.4 BLM’s Nevada State Office manages about half of the land and animals in the Wild Horse and Burro Program BLM permits far more cattle and sheep to graze on BLM managed lands than horses. Specifically, in fiscal year 2007, approximately 567,000 head of cattle or sheep grazed BLM public lands. However, livestock are managed on 160 million acres of BLM lands, compared to the 29 million BLM acres that supports horses and burros. BLM is currently compiling a history of how BLM field offices made the determination to manage wild horses and burros on the current 34.3 million acres, compared to the 53.5 million acres where they were originally found in 1971. According to BLM officials, they expect the review to be completed by March 2009. Vicki | A Voice for Our Horses
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| http:// BLM and National Cattlemen's Beef Association Partner to dispose of Wild Horses!!! In what could be its most absurd and cynical move yet, the Bureau of Land Management is partnering with the National Cattlemen´s Beef Association, the American Sheep Industry and the Association of National Grasslands (represented by the Public Lands Council), in a campaign that promotes the purchase of wild horses and burros by public lands ranchers. View their joint press release at Beef USA The very people who lobby tirelessly to remove wild horses from our public lands at taxpayers´ expense are now urged to purchase these same horses at bargain basement prices. Ranchers did not want to share their public land allotments with these horses in the first place; do we really think they are now going to let them graze these same allotments out of the goodness of their hearts? Who better than the National Cattlemen´s Beef Association to funnel wild horses to slaughter? In fact, it is disturbing that this announcement should come on the heels of the USDA's decision to allow horse slaughter to continue despite Congress overwhelmingly passing an amendment banning such practice for one fiscal year; the horse slaughter ban was vehemently opposed by the National Cattlemen´s Beef Association. Without independent oversight and incentives to ensure the ranchers will provide long-term care for these horses, we can´t help but see something sinister at play and need your help to fight another attempt by the BLM to dispose of our wild horses by any means available. PLEASE TAKE ACTION NOW to protest this latest maneuver by the BLM and the cattle lobby: voice your concern and outrage to Gale Norton, Secretary of the Interior, Department of the Interior,1849 C Street, N.W., Washington DC 20240 - fax: 202.208.5048. We are in the process of investigating all the implications of BLM´s new campaign. Be sure to check the News Briefs section of the AWHPC site for further information as we uncover it. On behalf of the horses, thank you for your support. Vicki | A Voice for Our Horses
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http://www.kentucky.com/712/ http://www.pennsylvaniaequestrian.com/news/EU-ban-1009.php National Congress of American Indians ask U.S. Congress for Contract to Slaughter Wild Horses; This new petition ought to stir things up a bit with our Native American Friends...... http://www.rallycongress.com/saveourwildhorses/ http://www.americanherds.blogspot.com/ once you open the link, click on the titles of the actions to sign a petition that will automatically be emailed to your legislators....now is the time to RALLY CONGRESS - both of them!
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Please forward & cross post! Below - wise strategy from the "mother ship." John & Vicki are 100% for the horses, we are grateful for their hard work & telling it like it is. Action: Please call Senator Gillibrand & Schumer to co-sponsor and help move the R.O.A.M Act to the Senate floor. HSUS: Humane Society of the US came out this week in support of the BLM plan, with reservations. HSUS does great work in many areas. However HSUS has not chosen to get publicly involved (or return my phone calls) on the Cloud roundup. Full disclosure: HSUS partners with the BLM on the controversial contraceptive drug PZP. This is about the horses. Focus on that, and we'll keep our compass to true North. Please keep calling, and please send this common sense piece to our elected representatives. Cheers, Susan PS The R.O.A.M.. Act (Restore Our American Mustangs Act) already passed the House, all we need is the Senate. --- From Equine Welfare Alliance (EWA) In the past few days we have seen a massive plan from the BLM that is no doubt designed to “divide and conquer” the support for our Wild Horses and Burros and it appears to be working to an alarming degree. Salazar didn’t purposely name Madeleine Pickens in his press release to drop a name. HSUS (with some reservations) has already gone public in their press release to support Salazar’s plan. --- forwarded by: Robin J. Yager, Director http://www. http://www.springfarmcares.org (no spaces) Life is as dear to the mute creature as it is to man. Just as one wants
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very sad story http://www.calcoastnews.com: please sign petition: BLM RANCHERS CRUEL 2 WILD HORSES - The Petition Site From Madeleine Pickens: note:I don;t share her enthusiasm of Salazar plan to shuffle wildhorses back east.Salazar is "ambitious" as she puts it alright -but for his own greedy purposes. Response to Secretary Salazar’s Press Annoucement I am delighted that the Secretary of the Interior has announced reforms for the Wild Horse and Burro Program. Much of what the Secretary said yesterday echoes what I have said over the past eighteen months. Those concerns about the existing BLM program led me to seek a wild horse sanctuary/visitor center that would be available to the American people. It is gratifying to know that the effort I have made the past year and a half to offer this project for the sake of the wild horses and the American people has borne fruit in Washington. I respect Secretary Salazar’s forthright candor in calling attention to this serious problem which has been ignored by the BLM for many years under previous administration. I will support Secretary Salazar’s efforts, and will gladly compete to offer the wild horse sanctuary that I have planned to the BLM as one of the facilities proposed by Secretary Salazar. -Madeleine Pickens Read Secretary Salazar’s Ambitious Plan Here
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I received this article this morning from a volunteer about a new concept to move the mustangs east where there is more forage and water. Mike Dodge ----- Original Message ----- From: Lorie Ponko Sent: Thursday, October 08, 2009 10:37 AM Subject: Interesting Article Hey Mike, I found this interesting article on msnbc, though you might be interested. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/ Lorie
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http://www.animallawcoalition. Salazar Seeks Congressional Support for Sustainable National Program to Manage Iconic Wild Horses WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar today proposed a national solution to restore the health of America’s wild horse herds and the rangelands that support them by creating a cost-efficient, sustainable management program that includes the possible creation of wild horse preserves on the productive grasslands of the Midwest and East. “The current path of the wild horse and burro program is not sustainable for the animals, the environment, or the taxpayer,” Salazar said in a letter outlining his proposals to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and eight other key members of Congress with jurisdiction over wild horse issues. Salazar said he is “proposing to develop new approaches that will require bold efforts from the Administration and from Congress to put this program on a more sustainable track, enhance the conservation for this iconic animal, and provide better value for the taxpayer.” Bob Abbey, Director of Interior’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM), commended the Secretary for his initiative, saying, “The proposals we are unveiling today represent a forward-looking, responsive effort to deal with the myriad challenges facing our agency's wild horse and burro program.” Abbey added, “We owe wild horses and burros on Western rangelands high-quality habitat. We owe the unadopted wild horses and burros in holding good care and treatment. And we owe the American taxpayer a well-run, cost-effective wild horse program. Today's package of proposals will achieve those ends.” The challenges to the BLM associated with maintaining robust wild horse populations in the West have been recognized by the Senate Appropriations Committee, which has warned that gathering and holding costs have risen beyond sustainable levels and directed the BLM to prepare a long-term plan for the program. The Government Accountability Office also found the program to be at a “critical crossroads,” affirmed the need to control off-the-range holding costs, and recommended that the BLM work with Congress to find a responsible way to manage the increasing number of unadopted horses. In response to Congressional direction, Salazar’s proposals aim to achieve a “truly national solution” to a traditionally Western issue. In four decades under the BLM’s protection, wild horses that were fast disappearing from the American scene have returned to rapid growth. “As wild horses have no natural predators and herds grow quickly,” Salazar said in his letter, “more than 33,000 wild horses live in 10 western states. Unfortunately, arid western lands and watersheds cannot support a population this large without significant damage to the environment.” The BLM works to achieve an ecological balance on the range by removing thousands of wild horses and burros from public rangelands each year and then offering them for adoption. Unadopted animals are cared for in short-term corrals and long-term pastures. With the sharp decline in wild horse adoptions in recent years because of the economic downturn, the Bureau now maintains nearly 32,000 wild horses and burros in holding, including more than 9,500 in expensive short-term corrals. In Fiscal Year 2008, the cost of holding and caring for these animals exceeded $27 million – or three-fourths of the FY 2008 enacted funding level of $36.2 million for the entire wild horse and burro program. In the most recent fiscal year (2009), which ended September 30, holding costs were approximately $29 million, or about 70 percent of the total 2009 enacted wild horse and burro program budget of $40.6 million. A key element of the Secretary’s plan, designed to address concerns raised by the Senate Appropriations Committee and the Government Accountability Office, would designate a new set of wild horse preserves across the nation. Citing limits on forage and water in the West because of persistent drought and wildfire, Salazar said the lands acquired by the BLM and/or its partners “would provide excellent opportunities to celebrate the historic significance of wild horses, showcase these animals to the American public, and serve as natural assets that support local tourism and economic activity.” The wild horse herds placed in these preserves would be non-reproducing. In his letter, Salazar also proposed:
Noting that his proposals are subject to Congressional approval and appropriations, Salazar said he and Director Abbey look forward to discussing them with members of Congress “as we work together to protect and manage America’s ‘Living Legends.’” A copy of the letter is online at www.doi.gov and can be found here. For background information on the national wild horse and burro program, please visit the BLM’s Website at www.blm.gov.
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Update on September Events & October Action Plan Posted by: "Marge" redmm97@cox.net redmm97 Mon Oct 5, 2009 1:47 pm (PDT)
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Would love to know who the "official" was that walked out in the middle of this meeting.If that doesn't speak volumes-I don't know what does! : ROAM Would Expand BLM Horse Board to Include Activists, Term Limits By Steven Long Photo Courtesy Bureau of Land Management The Restore our American Mustang Act, (ROAM), if it passes, will bring radical change to the way the current Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board of the Bureau of Land Management does business. In particular, the new legislation would give animal welfare advocates a seat at the table of a board that heretofore was dominated by ranchers, mineral, and hunting interests. The proposed legislation changes the makeup of the board saying it “shall include three representatives of the livestock industry; three representatives of the environmental community; three representatives of the animal protection community; and three scientists with expertise in wildlife management, animal husbandry, or natural resource management.” It also opens up appointment to the board stating ” Nomination of members of the board shall be conducted by public notice and comment…and shall be for a term of four years. No individual shall serve more then two consecutive terms.” Some members have served on the current board for decades. Appointment to the board has largely ignored wild horse advocates. The act has passed the House by a large margin. It is now in the senate and appears to enjoy strong support. At a meeting of the current board held in Alexandria, VA, last week, members largely ignored advocates, some of whom had traveled hundreds of miles to express their concerns. One board member walked out. A "gather" of wild horses in Montana's Pryor Mountain wilderness of a herd of Mustangs made famous on the PBS series"Nature," by documentary filmmaker Ginger Kathrens has provoked a tsunami of outrage at the bureau and its current wild horse board prompting thousands of calls and letters to Congress and the White House. Louisiana's Sen. Mary Landrieu (D), has introduced legislation which would force the BLM to completely revise its wild horse and burro policy. Wild horse round-up in Theodore Roosevelt Nat'l PK-they are hiring humters to shoot the elk and helicopters to round up the horses thru very rugged terrain.Not good! : http://www.grandforksherald.com/event/article/id/135761/group/Opinion/ This is a letter that Mary Adkins(who designed our recent Cloud fliers to raise wildhorse awareness) just sent to George Knapp. Please pay close attention to the fact that Sue Cattoor is attempting to change her web site right now as we speak … currently it is messed up if you go there to view it. She has 2 4s and 5s currently Hi there George, My name is Mary and I recently became involved with the situation concerning the Pryor Mountain Mustangs. I will try to summarize my research as much as possible to make it simple and then please feel free to email me back with any questions. Also please note that since posting my findings on the blog at The Cloud Foundation, Sue Cattoor has tried to chance her web site, removing what she originally said. I do have proof and a copied screen of her changes. The Pryor Mountain Mustang Center has done nothing to stop these round ups. The Cloud Foundation has done everything it possibly can. The board members of the Pryor Mountain Mustang Center are some of the same breeders there at the Pryor Mustang Breeders Association. The Pryor Mountain Breeders Association state it right on their web site: ” To supply horses to restore a depleted Pryor herd, due to sickness or other catastrophic events, should that ever happen.” I believe the breeders association is interested in doing this is stated on one of the breeders web sites: "The BLM has been experimenting on the herd with methods to control herd size to eliminate future roundups of Pryor Mountain Horses. Using an immunocontraceptive known as PZP (Porcine Zona Pellucida) the BLM hopes to keep herd size at range capacity. The PZP and natural predation will eliminate the need for future roundups. Eliminating the Pryor Mustangs from roundups will in effect close access to the breed. The only way to acquire a Pryor Mountain Mustang is from a private breeder. At present there are only two breeders known to us, Carnahan Ranch and the Hartmans. Feel free to contact us for information on how you can own one of these wonderful horses." If you read what Sue Cattoor ( wife if Dave Cattoor) who was hired for this roundup recently says on her web site, she claims that the BLM and the Pryor Mountain Mustang Center need to gather the horses and remove them because of inbreeding. She has attempted to remove the following: “These wild horses are not genetically pure. Other horses have been introduced over the years.” She also tries to quote Dr. Gus Cothran, a professor at Texas A&M University who specializes in horse genetics who had said the following, “In the short term, the Pryor mustang herd won’t be hurt by a reduction from 188 animals to around 130, he said. The Bureau of Land Management, the federal agency in charge of the herd, had originally proposed removing about 70 animals. But the roundup ended Wednesday before the agency reached its target. In its new management plan, BLM is proposing a maximum herd of 120 animals, excluding the current year’s foals.” “The concern in keeping only 120 horses on the range, Cothran said, is the threat of a potential die-off that could reduce the herd even further, reducing the herd’s genetic diversity. In the Pryor horses’ favor if such an event should occur, though, is that the horses that have been adopted out could be used to recharge the herd in such a dire situation.” Of course we know this not to be true and we know that over the past years The Pryor Mountain Mustang Breeders Association has introduced new horses when needed, NOT the ones that were removed. And although he states that it could reduce the herd even further as being a possibility, he never mentions that inbreeding was an issue at the Pryors. In fact, The Pryor Mountain Wild Mustang Center had quoted him saying in a letter earlier this year that. ” The higher the effective population size , the less chance there will be for inbreeding to occur.” He does go on to state that “the population size is what determines the genetic diversity within the population and thus how genetically viable the population is”. He states that the herd will not be hurt by a reduction of 188 to 130 ONLY because other horses can be added later if necessary. He admits that keeping the herd at 120 on the range could propose a risk of reducing the herd’s genetic diversity which is exactly what he later says can cause inbreeding. I see Sue Cattoor trying to twist what he has said. I hardly think it is okay to remove some horses just to add new ones later to SAVE THE HERD. Of course I am not a breeder that wants to add “new bloodlines” into the herd. I am just an everyday person that believes that it is unfair to remove ” some horses” from a herd knowing that it will become genetically un-viable only to add new ones in later. And stating that the ones that were adopted out would be the horses that would be added in at a later time is what I would call a flat out lie. The BLM is helping a breeding operation to breed better horses. It is just that simple, and we are flipping the bill. It is outrageous to remove just ONE of these horses to add even ONE other at a late time. The cost to remove just ONE horse is outrageous. If you need any of references that I have copied and save including the proof that Sue Cattoor has changed her site, just let me know. I appreciate your time and attention to this matter. Mary Rebuttal from wildhorse advocate on Catoor's comments On Ginger filming at the Pryor's: http://billingsgazette.com/news/opinion/mailbag/article_a6299a4e-b0ac-11de-a166-001cc4c002e0.html very interesting article on hunting: http://www.newwest.net/topic/article/too_thrilled_for_the_kill/C564/L564/#
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What's this?Another corruption inside the BLM?Who would have guessed? http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2009995431_webblmmanager03m.html MORE BLM NEWS: Wild horses could come to Ennis - Montana's News Station - Fair. Accurate. To the Point. -
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Mustangs on the Hill and Press Conference Posted by: "Marge" redmm97@cox.net redmm97 Wed Sep 30, 2009 1:49 pm (PDT)
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http://www.madeleinesmustangs.org/joomla/ The latest on Madeline Pickens Plan for a wild horse sanctuary. R- Robin J. Yager, Director http://www.partnershelpinganimalscoalition-subscribe@yahoogroups.com (remove spacing) http://www.springfarmcares.org (no spaces) Life is as dear to the mute creature as it is to man. Just as one wants
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Please choose your favorite(s), copy and post at your websites or blogs. Robin http://www.madeleinepickens.com/get-badges/ forwarded by: Robin J. Yager, Director Network Partners for Animals* http://www.partnershelpinganimalscoalition-subscribe@yahoogroups.com (remove spacing) http://www.springfarmcares.org (no spaces) Life is as dear to the mute creature as it is to man. Just as one wantshappiness and fears pain, just as one wants to live and not to die, so do other creatures. ~ His Holiness The Dalai Lama
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Hi Folks, First let me thank everyone who attended or supported the events of this last week! I am convinced more than ever that our mustangs are indeed in mortal danger of being eradicated and it will take caring people to once again set things right. Everyone wants to know about the adoptions (especially the Cloud herd) and Mustangs on the Hill, so we have shifted our schedule to make this program about those events and Lynn Henderson will be joining us in a few weeks. We will be hearing from Dr. Ann Marini and Craig Downer, both of whom I met and had lunch with during the Mustangs on the Hill event. Ann was also with me and others at the Lorton adoption. We had long discussions with the BLM people there and we will discuss some of their assertions. We have invited Ginger and hope she will be available. I can only imagine how tired she must be! As usual, all calls are welcome but if you attended an adoption or were with us on the hill, please call in and share your experiences and impressions! Wednesday, September 30, 9:30p Eastern Listen here: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/Howling_Ridge_Radio On-Air Calls: 718.664.6596 Next week we will have very special guests the Emmy award winning film makers Jaime and Jim Dutcher. The Dutchers spent six years in a tent camp winning the trust of a pack of wolves. Now wolves face the same mismanagement as the mustangs and we will explore how we might work together to save wild America.
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Robin wants you to take action on "American Wild Horse Preservation Posted by: "rjyager@yahoo.com" rjyager@yahoo.com rjyager Tue Sep 29, 2009 2:44 pm (PDT)
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As u will read in link below-Cloud is still lame and he "may" recover along with others.Let this put a "fire" under you TODAY-call your senators and ask them to support S 1579(known as the ROAM ACT) contact info below this article link.Thanks. While our friends are in D.C. it is important we help support their mission by doing the following: 1) Calling/faxing/emailing your two U.S. Senators and ask them to support the ROAM ACT, bill number S1579.click on link below to get senators CONTACT INFO: http://capwiz.com/compassionindex/dbq/vote_info 2) Call all members in the committee of Energy and Natural Resources to urge them to support the Roam Act. http://energy.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?IsPrint=true&FuseAction=About.Members FOR YOUR CONVENIENCE - You can use this toll-free number 800-828-0498 and ask for a legislator by name (or ask for extension, last 5 numbers of legislator's office phone)
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---- Original Message ----- From: cwhills To: 'charise demao' Sent: Saturday, September 26, 2009 8:00 PM Subject: Pryors adoption Great news! All 57 either adopted to sold to good homes. 4 bands of Forest Service horses, 15 total including Floyd and Conquistador and his mare will be kept together at ranch of Laura Pivonka. Ember and Image get to stay together, have a great home, also adopted into great homes were Arrow, Rain, Helena Montana, Stiles, Cassidy, the lame foal with his mom, who is looking better, and Ginger got Sax. Conquistador had the record bid - $2500 Huge thanks to all the Freedom Fund donars and all the supporters who made this possible – this is a big win. Carol Carol Walker 303-823-6642 Wild Hoofbeats: America's Vanishing Wild Horses www.wildhoofbeats.blogspot.com
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Just a quick note to all regarding the Lorton, VA BLM Adoption Day. Of the 53 horses and burros brought for adoption from Ewing, IL holding facility, 25 were adopted on site, 8 via internet. 20 will be returing to the holding facility. It was an emotionally taxing day. I'll share more at another time. We currently are waiting for news from The Cloud Foundation. Please come to DC on Monday or Tuesday if you are able to make your views known. The wild horses are depending on us. R- Robin J. Yager, Director http://www. http://www.springfarmcares.org (no spaces) Life is as dear to the mute creature as it is to man. Just as one wants
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Subject: SENATE STOPS THE SLAUGHTER IF WH'S&BURROS ///// SHELDON HERDS DILEMMA THIS IS HUGE.DO YOU SEE?THIS IS HOW WE GET TO THE BLM THRU THOSE WHO MAKE THE LAWS.TAKE A BOW EVERYONE WHO NEVER GAVE UP LETTING OUR LEGISLATORS KNOW; WE WILL NOT TOLERATE IT ANYMORE!ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!WE STILL HAVE ALOT TO DO BUT THIS IS A GREAT START!READ ON.... The Senate also prohibited BLM from using funds to kill healthy unadopted wild horses and burros! Update Sept. 25, 2009: The Senate has voted to pass H.R. 2996, an appropriations bill for 2010 for the Dept. of Interior including the Bureau of Land Management ("BLM"). BLM manages the nation's wild horses and burros. In the bill the Senate made clear to the BLM: Appropriations ... made [in this bill]shall not be available for the destruction of healthy, unadopted, wild horses and burros in the care of the Bureau of Land Management or its contractors or for the sale of wild horses and burros that results in their destruction for processing into commercial products.SEE LINK BELOW: http://www.animallawcoalition. BELOW IS THE STORY OF OUR SHELDON WILDHORSE HERDS.THE SOMETIMES "FORGOTTEN WILDHORSES" BECAUSE THEY AREN'T UNDER BLM JURISDICTION. (INSTEAD UNDER THE U.S. FISH&WILDLIFE SERVICE) THIS IS LONG BUT REALLY TAKE THE TIME TO READ IT BECAUSE IF YOU LOVE WILDHORSES-THIS SHOULD BE A HUGE PART OF WHAT WE ARE FIGHTING FOR.IT IS IMPORTANT TO FORWARD THIS ON TO YOUR LEGISLATORS AND ALSO KEEP PRESSING THEM TO SUPPORT THE ROAM ACT.READ ON........................................................................................................... OUR Sheldon horses… GOOD WILDHORSE ARTICLE TO READ: http://www.planetjh.com/news/A_105423.aspx EVERYONE HAVE A GREAT WKND!REMEMBER TO WATCH ON PBS STARTING SUNDAY NITE(see local listings for time) KEN BURN'S NATIONAL PARKS SERIES.I SAW THE PREVIEW AND IT IS AWESOME!!!
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Take Action Today on Wild Horse bill The Restore Our American Mustangs (ROAM) Act (S. 1579), recently introduced by Senator Robert C. Byrd (D-WV), will restore protections for our country's wild horses and burros that were stripped away in recent years. Not only will the ROAM Act ensure that our mustangs and burros are once again protected from slaughter, but it seeks to reclaim land - some 19 million acres - taken away from these magnificent animals. Please take a moment to contact your U.S. Senators today and ask them to cosponsor this vital legislation. To take action visit AWI’s Compassion Index and contact your US Senator’s today! Please forward this eAlert to everyone you know asking them to help protect America’s wild horses and burros. http://capwiz.com/ Thank you, Chris CHRIS HEYDE Deputy Director Government and Legal Affairs ANIMAL WELFARE INSTITUTE 900 Pennsylvania Ave., SE Washington, DC 20003 www.awionline.org ~ www.compassionindex.org The Animal Welfare Institute has been working to alleviate the suffering inflicted on animals by humans since 1951. Please join us in our work to protect animals – visit our website to find out more and to sign up for AWI eAlerts: www.awionline.org. Please consider the animals and their habitat before printing.
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Posted by: "Marge" redmm97@cox.net redmm97 Wed Sep 23, 2009 2:33 pm (PDT)
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Please participate and forward widely. Thanks. (It's essential that we contact the officials in the message below, but it's very important that we also let our own federal legislators know how we feel about this issue, wherever we live. If legislators hear from enough of their constituents, they might pressure BLM on their own. So I provided the links at the bottom of this e-mail. What's happening to these animals is outrageous, so we must keep protesting. I'm calling my Senators and Representative first thing tomorrow to ask that they add their support by taking action to try to stop this.) -----Original Message----- FRIENDS OF KINSHIP CIRCLE, http://friendsofkinshipcircle.wordpress.com ** To identify your federal legislators and find contact info, try:
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Cloud Foundation Issues Appeal to Supporters Posted by: "Marge" redmm97@cox.net redmm97 Sat Sep 19, 2009 4:17 am (PDT)
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The conquest; Conquistador, aging PBS star still held and at risk of death. The conquest of Conquistador, aging PBS star still held and at risk of death. We need more people for the events in DC. Please make every effort to join us. The adoption event on Saturday the 26th will be a lot of fun because you will be able to watch the show they put on and see a lot of beautiful horses. John
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If you haven't made up your mind to join us in DC, you will after these stories: Horseback Magazine - The High Cost of Lameness on the Mountain, Oops, He’s Not Lame George Knapp exposes dishonesty and incompetence of Nevada BLM's Suzie Stokke R.T.Fitch - While cloud was running for his life, BLM employees were awash with double-time pay! Disclaimer: Do not view these links if you suffer from high blood pressure, incontinence, vomiting or chronic, persistent dependence on rational thought. Persons who pay taxes to the US Government should avoid prolonged viewing of this material. Exposure to minors may cause premature, long-term loss of faith in adult society.
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Hi Folks, Wild Horse Phone: (703) 643-3100 8180 Silverbrook Rd , Lorton, VA, US, 22079 The rate is $79 and includes hot breakfast and 10% off on 8 local restaurants Valerie Kennedy tells me there will be fancier T-shirts of Conquistador available at the event of the 29th. John Holland Dear Mustang Advocate;
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cross post from www.thecloudfoundation.wordpress.com forwarded by: Robin J. Yager, Director http://www.partnershelpinganimalscoalition-subscribe@yahoogroups.com (remove spacing) http://www.springfarmcares.org (no spaces) Life is as dear to the mute creature as it is to man. Just as one wants
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Posted by: "Jenny Estripeaut" jestri01@yahoo.com jestri01 Wed Sep 16, 2009 5:07 am (PDT) From:Holland
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“Mustangs On The Hill” in Washington DC on September 29th to support the ROAM ACT. Please click for more details on the BLM Meeting. Send in your comments as soon as possible to Ramona_delorme@blm.gov and reference: WH&B Advisory Board Comments. We are working on getting local and national media to both events and also, Celebrity Speakers. We will be gathering on the West Front Lawn of Capitol Hill on the 29th from 8:00AM to 4:00PM where we will have speakers and will be meeting with Senators on the Committee of Energy and Natural Resources to urge them to support the ROAM Act and place it on the calendar throughout the day. We will have a Banner that we will give to the Committee of Energy and Natural Resources with the names of everyone who donated to the Freedom Fund. If you plan on attending either of these events, please RSVP as soon as possible so we can plan for the amount of people coming. You may RSVP to mustangsonthehill@gmail.com (mustangsonthehill @ gmail.com). We are expecting a minimum of 2,000 people for the event on the 29th so please join us and help preserve and protect our wild horses! Thank you to everyone for your continued support and we hope to see you soon! If any FOB is going, please email me sharonsfun21@yahoo.com so I can keep you posted as to the rules, regulations, guidelines we all must follow and any other information you will need along with continuous updates out of TCF. Thank you Sharon
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Fw: Cloud's Capture and Release- Take Action to Save Wild Horses + Posted by: "Marge" redmm97@cox.net redmm97 Tue Sep 15, 2009 7:17 am (PDT)
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Cloud is freed but not with all of his family Posted by: "Marge" redmm97@cox.net redmm97 Wed Sep 9, 2009 2:35 pm (PDT)
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Breaking News - Pryor Mountain gather halted! The following comes from Jerry Finch and the folks on site. We will discuss the latest news on Howling Ridge tonight. Hopefully we will have more details by then. **BREAKING NEWS** The Pryor Mountain Roundup has been called off! They are leaving around 25 horses - 4 family bands, alone.
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Sent: Tuesday, September 08, 2009 2:00 PM
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Mustangs: if you would like to be a part of the group trying to save Posted by: "bethofneer" fatoldfarmwife@verizon.net bethofneer Mon Sep 7, 2009 6:22 pm (PDT)
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Please comment and thank NBC for covering this controversial round-up of the Pryor Mountain horses. Also please pass to your contacts. They track the number of times the feature is viewed. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/32688728#32688728 Robin Robin J. Yager, Director http://www.partnershelpinganimalscoalition-subscribe@yahoogroups.com (remove spacing) http://www.springfarmcares.org (no spaces) Life is as dear to the mute creature as it is to man. Just as one wants
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The round up has been delayed until todays' hearing at 1:30 - please keep Cloud and his family in your thoughts and prayers. Robin forwarded message: Please take a moment today and send your positive energy to the Federal Court hearing tomorrow at 1:30 pm. Many communities have historic preservation foundations. For the wild horses who carry our history on their backs, whose presence keep our last remaining wild places for our children, the foundation is us. We all signed on to pass the slaughter bill, why are we working on the wild horse issue? Great question! First, because these horses matter, second, it's a test. This issue is closely tied to slaughter because the R.O.A.M. act, now making its way through Congress, will specifically protect our wild horses from that fate. Some analysts suspect underneath this whole shebang is a back-door way to get around the European Union's new crackdown on drugs in domestic US horses. Tactically, by protecting our wild horses, we put one more nail in the coffin of horse slaughter in the US. Please keep calling. If this will be your first call, welcome aboard! The horses - and our grandkids - thank you. cheers, susan BILLINGS, MONTANA- August 31, 2009: The Pryor Mountain Wild Horses, perhaps best known from the popular Cloud: Wild Stallion of the Rockies PBS Nature series, have two more days of freedom before an unprecedented round up could begin. The Pryors roundup has been delayed for two days to allow Judge Sullivan of the Federal District Court to hear the case brought against the BLM by The Cloud Foundation and Front Range Equine Rescue. The Bureau of Land Management, responsible for managing wild horses on public lands in the United States, plans to round up all the horses in Montana’s only remaining wild herd and remove 70 horses plus four or more foals. This will leave a non-viable herd of only 120 horses according to respected equine geneticist, Gus Cothran, Ph.D., of Texas A&M University. The Pryor Mountain wild horses are a unique Spanish herd renowned for their primitive markings, historical connections, and spectacular habitat. BLM is dispatching National Wild Horse and Burro Program staff for this round up, perhaps because they expect trouble from humane advocates who are currently being prevented from observing this roundup. “Never before in my experience have plans been so vague and operations so secret in the Pryors,” says Ginger Kathrens, Volunteer Executive Director of The Cloud Foundation.” The BLM will be closing down roads to the mountain top where the majority of the herd spends their days grazing peacefully in their subalpine meadows. Young foals, only days old will be driven by helicopters and are in serious danger of being hurt or killed. Billings BLM Field Manager Jim Sparks told one advocate that they would expect a loss of 2% or six horses as a result of this operation. The BLM has always had signs posted at the entrances to the horse range that tell the public to ‘report violations of harassment, death or removals.’ “Why are they above the law?” Asks Crow Tribe Historian and Elder, Howard Boggess. “Everything that is against the law for me they are planning to do to these horses. This is a very sad thing as far as I’m concerned. The horses have lived here for over 200 years. Even under the harassment of the BLM they’ve survived since 1971.” The BLM claims that it is necessary to remove 70 horses in order to “maintain a thriving ecological balance.” However, the range is still green in late August following three years of above average precipitation after a multi-year drought. The horses are fat, preparing to go into winter. “Why are they removing nearly half the horses after the drought is over? I’ve told them [the BLM] if you take these 70 horses you’ve destroyed the bloodline, the gene pool will no longer be there,” continues Boggess. “Their whole goal is to get rid of the horses.” “What they are proposing to do is criminal— people locally and all across the Nation worked so hard to save these horses from eradication in 1968,” explains Kathrens. “This range was specially designated for wild horses, the first of its kind in the nation. This is their refuge and it is about to be invaded.” The BLM plans to remove 17 horses over ten years old and by BLM’s Standard Operating Procedures, “old, sick or lame horses shall be destroyed.” “When they take out the old horses they remove the ones that know the way to the water, the good grass, the way around the canyon - they’re taking out all of the knowledge of the herd,” Boggess explains. “It is really sad to sit there and look at the horses and think that in the next ten days they’ll be taken off this range and they’ll never see it again.” This case is scheduled to be heard on Wednesday, September 2nd, and thousands of people around the United States and the world await the decision of Judge Sullivan which will decide the fate of the unique and beloved Pryor Wild Horse Herd. For more information contact:
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Famous Wild Horse Herd Granted Two-Day Reprieve from Massive Roundup Monday, 31 August 2009 21:06 Press Release The Bureau of Land Management, responsible for managing wild horses on public lands in the United States, plans to round up all the horses in Montana’s only remaining wild herd and remove 70 horses plus four or more foals. This will leave a non-viable herd of only 120 horses according to respected equine geneticist, Gus Cothran, Ph.D., of Texas A&M University. The Pryor Mountain wild horses are a unique Spanish herd renowned for their primitive markings, historical connections, and spectacular habitat.
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