Update:
BLM to Start Calico Roundup on Private Land- No Public Observers Allowed
Las Vegas Protest Planned for Sunday, December 27th
The Cloud Foundation just learned that the Calico Roundup, arguably the most controversial roundup in the BLM's history, will be held for the first two weeks on private land where no members of the public will be allowed to view the operation. According to BLM over half of the 2+ month long roundup will take place on private land. The immediate reaction from the public and those planning on attending on Monday is that this is unacceptable and leads to further suspicions of BLM misconduct. Wild Horse and Burro Chief Don Glenn's statement that the public is welcome to watch any roundup at anytime and offer that the public willl be accommodated at a safe distance (so to not further disturb the horses) has fallen flat. Calico cannot be conducted in secret like the Buckhorn Roundup but by working off private lands the BLM can operate in secracy as apparently the private landowners will not allow any member of the public to be present. The BLM will try to make it possible for public to observe but first two weeks appear to be out. The public should contact Lisa Ross in the Winnemucca office to learn more about observing this massive roundup - 775-623-1541.
The following is a press release from a Nevada resident about a protest in Las Vegas. This is not a Cloud Foundation event, however we support the right of the public to gather and speak out peacefully on behalf of our wild horses and would like to inform you of this protest, albeit on short notice.
Las Vegas Protest Planned for Sunday, December 27th
The Cloud Foundation just learned that the Calico Roundup, arguably the most controversial roundup in the BLM's history, will be held for the first two weeks on private land where no members of the public will be allowed to view the operation. According to BLM over half of the 2+ month long roundup will take place on private land. The immediate reaction from the public and those planning on attending on Monday is that this is unacceptable and leads to further suspicions of BLM misconduct. Wild Horse and Burro Chief Don Glenn's statement that the public is welcome to watch any roundup at anytime and offer that the public willl be accommodated at a safe distance (so to not further disturb the horses) has fallen flat. Calico cannot be conducted in secret like the Buckhorn Roundup but by working off private lands the BLM can operate in secracy as apparently the private landowners will not allow any member of the public to be present. The BLM will try to make it possible for public to observe but first two weeks appear to be out. The public should contact Lisa Ross in the Winnemucca office to learn more about observing this massive roundup - 775-623-1541.
The following is a press release from a Nevada resident about a protest in Las Vegas. This is not a Cloud Foundation event, however we support the right of the public to gather and speak out peacefully on behalf of our wild horses and would like to inform you of this protest, albeit on short notice.
WHERE? THE ENTRANCE TO RED ROCK CANYON, LAS VEGAS
WHEN? 1PM, SUNDAY, DECEMBER 27. 2009
On Monday, Dec. 28, 2009, the BLM (Bureau of Land Management) intends to roundup approximately 2,400- 2,700 of the estimated 3,000 wild horses in the Calico Mountain wild horse complex of Northern Nevada. They will be driven by helicopters in icy winter conditions, over rocky ground, for long distances. Some horses will be injured or die just as they have in recent BLM helicopter roundups.
Las Vegas realtor & wildlife artist, Arlene Gawne, says: “I am so mad, I won’t take it anymore! It is time for the public to stand up to the BLM and the Secretary of the Interior, Ken Salazar, and say no more taxpayer dollars for inhumane roundups of wild horses. We intend to protest outside the entrance to the BLM-managed Red Rock Canyon on Sunday, December 27, 2009 at 1pm.”
“What does this one roundup cost taxpayers?” says Gawne. “Apparently nearly $2 million dollars for the roundup contractor and the BLM personnel. Then sorting and transporting the horses will likely cost another $1 million! Are they crazy in this economy? The Calico range is not in poor condition and the horses are healthy, but the BLM increased livestock grazing permits significantly last year. That’s the core issue.”
Says Gawne, “Every year I go on safari to Africa’s wildlife parks where wildlife tourists spend millions and employ thousands of local people. Many tourists have asked me where they could view wild horses in North America? My answer is NOWHERE!”
”Those would-be tourists are shocked and disgusted when I explain that the BLM holds 34,000 horses in pens at a taxpayer cost of over $100,000 per day, yet sources independent from the BLM estimate there may be just 15,000 mustangs left in the wild. The BLM claims that wild horses destroy the range but the dirty truth is that cattle on public land outnumber wild horses 100 to one! According to the Government Accountability Office, we taxpayers subsidize beef interests at a net loss of $123 million a year – and most are big cattle corporations like Annhauser Busch and the Hilton Family Trust, not small family ranchers. In fact, economists estimate that additional direct and indirect costs may run that subsidy to half a billion or even a billion dollars. Oh yes, I am mad!“
”East and Southern Africa depend on the wildlife safari industry for a major part of their economy. Why don't we create new jobs in the West with Wild Horse Sanctuaries? Having done wildlife safaris from rough to “high-heeled” worldwide, I know there is a big audience to view wild horses. Some well-heeled folks will need luxury tented camps with all the comforts laid on; but many more, including families, need the inexpensive safari jeep and bunkhouse accommodation for a 1 to 2 day peek at the Mustangs at the edge of a Wild Horse Sanctuary. Serious hikers and horse-back riders would fill campgrounds deeper in the Sanctuary while wilderness lovers would definitely pay to sit in blinds at remote waterholes where they could photograph truly wild Mustangs.”
”Those would-be tourists are shocked and disgusted when I explain that the BLM holds 34,000 horses in pens at a taxpayer cost of over $100,000 per day, yet sources independent from the BLM estimate there may be just 15,000 mustangs left in the wild. The BLM claims that wild horses destroy the range but the dirty truth is that cattle on public land outnumber wild horses 100 to one! According to the Government Accountability Office, we taxpayers subsidize beef interests at a net loss of $123 million a year – and most are big cattle corporations like Annhauser Busch and the Hilton Family Trust, not small family ranchers. In fact, economists estimate that additional direct and indirect costs may run that subsidy to half a billion or even a billion dollars. Oh yes, I am mad!“
”East and Southern Africa depend on the wildlife safari industry for a major part of their economy. Why don't we create new jobs in the West with Wild Horse Sanctuaries? Having done wildlife safaris from rough to “high-heeled” worldwide, I know there is a big audience to view wild horses. Some well-heeled folks will need luxury tented camps with all the comforts laid on; but many more, including families, need the inexpensive safari jeep and bunkhouse accommodation for a 1 to 2 day peek at the Mustangs at the edge of a Wild Horse Sanctuary. Serious hikers and horse-back riders would fill campgrounds deeper in the Sanctuary while wilderness lovers would definitely pay to sit in blinds at remote waterholes where they could photograph truly wild Mustangs.”
“Nevada has half of America’s wild horses but we need to get those wild horses and burros out of the holding pens and return them to public land designated primarily for their use in 1971. Recently, Secretary of the Interior, Ken Salazar, proposed to move 26,000 wild horses to preserves east the Mississippi purchased at a starting cost of $96 million. I hate to be rude but what was Salazar smoking? The Mustang is a creature of our spectacular West! Let’s keep the jobs in Nevada! Motels, B&B's, rrestaurants, food suppliers, tour guides, transport companies, etc. will blossom as tourists come to see wild horse sanctuaries but stay to enjoy our Western landscapes and people.”
“The treatment of wild Mustangs is a huge black eye for the Obama administration. The President appears to spend more energy on selecting a dog than enforcing the 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horse and Burro Act. It is time he put a moratorium on BLM roundups and invested some of the bank bailout money – our tax dollars – into creating Wild Horse Sanctuaries on public land. It is obvious that the West is badly in need of job diversification and the wild Mustang is our equivalent of lions or elephants.”
TAKE ACTION: Please fax President Obama & Senator Reid today. A Free fax service is available at www.faxzero.com, no fax machine needed! You can fax the White House at 202-456-2461 or call 202-456-1111. Fax Senator Reid at 202-224-7327 or phone his DC office at: 202-224-3542.
TAKE ACTION: Please fax President Obama & Senator Reid today. A Free fax service is available at www.faxzero.com, no fax machine needed! You can fax the White House at 202-456-2461 or call 202-456-1111. Fax Senator Reid at 202-224-7327 or phone his DC office at: 202-224-3542.
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